Mystery drones seen flying over Dutch gold reserve site, Fmr. queen’s home
Unidentified drones were spotted flying over the Dutch gold vault and Princess Beatrix’s home castle in November last year, AD discovered in documents requested from the Koninklijke Marechaussee, a policing force that works as part of the Dutch military. This happened on the same weekend that mystery drones were also spotted over two military air bases and the largest gas field in the Netherlands.
The documents AD obtained state that on Saturday evening, November 22, the Koninklijke Marechaussee observed “three drones” over Camp New Amsterdam in Huis ter Heide and over Drakensteyn Castle in Lage Vuursche.
These are sensitive locations. Former Queen Beatrix lives in Drakenstey Castle. And Camp New Amsterdam houses De Nederlandsche Bank’s gold vault, which holds millions in coins and bank notes and 14,166 gold bars. Camp New Amsterdam is also the home base of the special unit of the Marechaussee that specializes in protecting high-ranking military personnel, politicians, and diplomats in unsafe areas and acts as an arrest and observation team in the Netherlands.
The sightings occurred during the same weekend when drones were sighted above Volkel Air Base and Eindhoven Air Base. At the end of January, De Stentor also revealed that drones had been spotted above the Netherlands’ largest gas location on that same weekend. On Friday, November 21, drones were sighted at the Gasunie location near Ommen.
It is still unclear who is behind the drones or what the motive is. No arrests have been made.
The Ministry of Defense previously said it was considering various scenarios, including hobbyists unaware that they are in no-fly zones, criminals, or malicious individuals. The incidents in the Netherlands followed several drone sightings in Denmark, Germany, and Belgium.
The Dutch armed forces have accelerated the purchase of equipment to arm themselves against drones, including special radars, equipment to jam drones, and drones capable of taking others down by crashing into them. The Armed Forces are also recruiting drone specialists, the first of which reported for duty last week.
