Fourth suspect arrested for Romanian gold theft at Drents Museum in Assen
A fourth person was arrested on Thursday in connection with the robbery of the Drents Museum in Assen last month. The gold artifacts stolen in the burglary have not been recovered, and the hunt for another key suspect is still ongoing. A hefty reward is still being offered for the tip that leads to the return of the pieces, all linked to the Dacian people of modern day Romania.
Police took a 26-year-old man from Heerhugowaard into custody on Thursday morning. The small Noord-Holland city is near Alkmaar about an hour north of Amsterdam. The man was arrested nearby in Obdam.
“After the arrest this morning, the police conducted investigations at various locations, including a storage garage in the municipality of Koggenland, and a home in Heerhugowaard,” police said in a statement. Investigators seized electronic devices to analyze the data stored on them, as well as two vehicles and articles of clothing.
He is the fourth resident of Heerhugowaard arrested in connection with the robbery in Assen, on the opposite side of the country. Douglas Chesley W., 36, and Bernhard Z., 34, were taken into custody four days after the incident on January 25. They were both remanded to pretrial detention for an initial 90-day period by the district court a week ago. The woman arrested at the same time was remanded to jail for 30 days while the investigation continues.
But police still have yet to find a man who was seen at a hardware store in Assen just before the break-in which could be similar to the dead blow hammer and sledgehammer used in the crime. Security camera footage released by the police showed the man, with a lighter skin tone, wearing a black Nike baseball hat, a black Nike long-sleeve top, and black rectangular glasses.
Police previously threatened to reveal the identity of the woman arrested in Heerhugowaard if the man did not report to the authorities. Police and prosecutors released the names of the two men arrested in January and released their booking photos to try to put pressure on the remaining suspects, and to make it more difficult to transfer the stolen goods or melt them down.
The unique artifacts include a helmet that is nearly 2,500 years old, and three golden bracelets that are about 2,075 years old. They were part of a collection of 673 objects which were on loan from Romania for the Dacia exhibit at the Drents Museum.
The stolen objects were valued at 5.8 million euros by the museum. The collection was insured for more than 30 million euros, including a guarantee of 9 million euros put forward by the Dutch government.
A Dutch entrepreneur living in Bucharest announced a reward of 250,000 euros for the tip that leads to the recovery of the four historical pieces. “They have arrested several suspects, but they are not talking. So, I wanted to bring renewed attention to the case. And maybe there are people who are willing to cross over and give information for this kind of money,” said the investor, Alex van Breemen.
The first public hearing in the case is expected to take place on May 9, which will be a pre-trial status update before the Noord-Nederland District Court. However, the date of the hearing could still change pending further investigation.
