A priceless golden helmet and other Romanian artifacts stolen from a small museum in the Netherlands have not been melted down and could still be recovered, Dutch prosecutors said Friday.
The theft in January shocked Romania, whose national museum loaned the artifacts for an exhibition. The then President Klaus Iohannis said at the time that the artifacts had "exceptional cultural and historical importance” for Romanian heritage and identity and that their disappearance had "a strong emotional and symbolic impact on society.”
Thieves used a homemade firework bomb and sledgehammer to break into the Drents Museum, in the eastern Dutch city of Assen, on Jan. 25 and steal items, including the intricate golden Cotofenesti helmet that dates back 2,500 years and is one of Romania’s most revered national treasures from the Dacia civilization.
Grainy security video distributed by police after the raid appeared to show three people opening a museum door with a large crowbar, after which an explosion is seen. Within days of the break-in, three people were arrested by police.
On Friday, a judge at the North Netherlands District Court ordered two suspects, aged 35 and 35, to remain in custody for a further 90 days pending further inquiries. They have been charged with three offenses linked to their alleged involvement in the heist: Causing an explosion, damaging the museum and stealing the artifacts.
A third suspect, aged 20, is also under arrest. All three come from the same town near Amsterdam.
One of the suspects, identified by Dutch media as Douglas W., insisted he was innocent, national broadcaster NOS reported. "I'm sitting here innocent and my life is ruined,” he was reported to have told the court.
Police are still seeking four other people who are suspected of playing supporting roles in the theft of the artifacts, which art experts believe would be impossible to sell.
Dutch prosecutors believe the art treasures "have not been melted down and that the main suspects, particularly the 36-year-old, still have control over them,” the prosecution service said in a statement. A trial is expected to begin in about a year.
