Thieves have stolen a slew of ancient artifacts, including a 2,500-year-old golden helmet, after an explosive raid on a museum in the Netherlands. CCTV footage released by Dutch police shows two hooded figures at Drents Museum in Assen, in the northeast of the country, at 3:45 a.m. local time on Saturday. The pair break in through an exterior door before using explosives to gain entry into the museum. Among the loot were three gold bracelets from around 50 BC, and a “masterpiece” golden helmet from 5th century Romania that was actually on loan from a museum in the southeastern European country. The items were part of the “Dacia: Empire of Gold and Silver” exhibit, detailing the lives of the Dacians, a society that lived in the Carpathian mountain region of Romania before its conquest by the Romans. Dutch police are working with Interpol to find those responsible for the heist, while Drents Museum authorities can do nothing but wait and commiserate with their counterparts in Bucharest. “We are intensely shocked by the events last night at the museum,” Drents Museum Director Harry Tupan said in a statement. “In its 170-year existence, there has never been such a major incident. It also gives us enormous sadness towards our colleagues in Romania.”
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