50-50 chance that stolen Romanian artifacts were melted down for gold: Art detective
Art detective Arthur Brand thinks there is a fifty-fifty chance that the thieves who stole a golden helmet and three gold bracelets from the Drents Museum in Assen have melted the Romanian treasures down for the gold. The police arrested three suspects very quickly, so they might not have had the time, but Brand is also suspicious of their persistent refusal to tell the police where the artifacts are, he said on the television program Eva.
“The suspects are not saying anything. You would expect that they would perhaps start talking now, so there is a chance that they may not exist anymore,” Brand said, according to ANP.
The thieves set off an explosion at the Drents Museum in Assen during the early hours of Saturday, January 25th. They took off with the golden artifacts, which were on loan from the National Historical Museum in Bucharest. Their theft led to outrage in Romania.
The police arrested three suspects in Heerhugowaard on Wednesday. In a remarkable move, the authorities published two of the suspects’ photos and full names a day later in an attempt to find the stolen artifacts. So far to no avail. All three suspects, two men and a woman, are still in custody.
According to Brand, he has received “some tips” about the theft. He did not elaborate on the nature of the tips, only saying that there are some jokers among them. If the stolen treasures have not yet been melted down, the police should find them quite quickly, he said. “The pressure is now incredibly high,” he said on the program.
