New arrests in Drents Museum heist include DIY store suspect; Romanian gold not found
The police arrested two more suspects on Wednesday in connection with the theft of Romanian artifacts from the Drents Museum in Assen early this year. One of the suspects is the man recorded by the security cameras of a DIY store in Assen, whom the police were specifically looking for, the police said on Thursday. The stolen treasures are still missing.
The suspects are two men from Heerhugowaard, aged 18 and 20. The 20-year-old is the man in the surveillance camera footage, which the police shared at the end of January, asking for help in identifying the suspect.
The man in the security camera footage emerged as a suspect because he bought a dead blow hammer and a sledgehammer at the hardware store in Assen which were similar to the tools used in the robbery a few days later.
The person seen in the video has a lighter skin tone, and when he made the purchase he was wearing a black Nike baseball hat, a black Nike long-sleeve top, and black rectangular glasses.
Immediately after the men’s arrest, the police searched a home in Heerhugowaard. Earlier in the day, officers also raided a home in Opmeer and a business premises in Heerhugowaard. Investigators seized data carriers, among other things.
The arrest of these two men brings the total number of suspects in the Drents Museum robbery to seven. Of the previously arrested five suspects, three were arrested on January 29 after the robbery, the fourth in February, and the fifth earlier this month. Four of these suspects are still in custody.
“The investigation into the stolen masterpieces from the Drents Museum does not stop with these arrests,” the police said. “Tracking down these pieces is still our priority.”
The police asked anyone with information that could help the investigation to come forward.
The thieves stole a golden helment and three gold armbands from the Drents Museum on January 25. The Romanian cultural artifacts were on loan to the museum in Assen, and the theft has led to outrage in Romania. There is a reward of 250,000 euros for information that leads to the treasures being found.
The Dutch government stood guarantor for the loan of the artifacts, something the government often does to lower insurance premiums for museums and enable them to put on exhibitions. That means that, if these artifacts are not recovered, the theft could cost the Dutch government 5.8 million euros.
