The heist, which occurred in the Netherlands on January 25, 2025, has been described by Drents Museum director Harry Tupan as the most significant incident in the institution's 170-year history.  Following the burglary, investigators discovered a bag containing clothing in Assen, which along with other investigative traces, led them to Wendersteyt and Zeeman.  Authorities have since released the names and two photographs of the two of the three suspects under investigation and are appealing to the public for any information regarding their whereabouts or activities in the days leading up to and immediately after the theft. 

In addition to Wendersteyt and Zeeman, the third individual, a woman, also from Heerhugowaard, has been arrested in connection with the case. Her identity has not been disclosed, but Dutch and Romanian news reports suggest that she and one of the male suspects are a couple with two young children. 

Despite these arrests, the four stolen artefacts have not been recovered. 

Authorities are intensifying their efforts to locate these invaluable pieces and are again seeking the public's assistance in identifying this fourth individual. This person may have been observed in a hardware store in Assen days before the robbery and may have purchased the tools depicted here, which could be the goods that were used during the break-in. 

The police have released these photographs and urge anyone with information on this individual or who may have engaged with this many to contact the Dutch authorities.

The Drents Museum has expressed its relief over the arrests and remains hopeful for the safe return of the artefacts. The museum's director emphasised the importance of these pieces to the Romanian people and to the broader historical community. 

Dutch authorities continue to advance their inquiry into the high-profile burglary and theft that occurred on 25 January 2025 at the Drents Museum in Assen with an expanded suspect list that now includes seven individuals.  In the early morning hours of that day, a group of individuals accomplices set off explosives to force open a door to the museum and made off with four significant artefacts on loan from Romania: the Dacien golden helmet of Cotofenesti and three gold bangles.

Following the museum's theft, Dutch law enforcement launched an intensive investigation involving forensic analysis, surveillance footage review, and interagency cooperation.

The first breakthrough came on 29 January when three individuals from Heerhugowaard were taken into custody. The Dutch police publicly identified two of the suspects as Douglas Chesley Wendersteyt and Bernhard Zeeman, releasing both their names and photographs to the public. The third person arrested arrested was not named but is reported to be the partner of one of the suspects.

On 20 February, investigators arrested a fourth possible co-conspirator, a 26-year-old man from the nearby village of Obdam.  Around the same time, authorities announced they were actively seeking an additional suspect captured on CCTV footage wearing a Nike cap and glasses and visiting a hardware store in Assen shortly before the burglary.

The investigation continued into the spring, and on 5 April, a fifth potential accomplice—aged 36—was apprehended during a raid on a residence in Alkmaar, where the premises were thoroughly searched for evidence.

Yesterday, the list of suspects grew to seven, with two more individuals, a 20-year-old man and an 18-year-old man, both from Heerhugowaard, taken into custody. Authorities confirmed that one of them is the same individual previously seen in the CCTV footage from the hardware store.  Earlier in the day, the police had already searched a house in Opmeer and a business premises in Heerhugowaard.

According to the news site Europesays, of the seven, six suspects reportedly remain in custody, with the seventh released but still considered a suspect in the case.

Despite these arrests, the stolen Romanian artefacts remain missing. The ancient golden helmet and bracelets are considered significant cultural property, and their recovery remains a top priority with a reward for the golden tip that leads to their recovery being set at 250 thousand euros, an amount offered by the Dutch entrepreneur Alex van Breemen, who lives in Bucharest.

Dutch authorities continue to appeal to the public for information that may lead to the recovery of the stolen items. Anyone with relevant details is encouraged to contact investigators via the dedicated email: tips-assen@politie.nl.  Anonymous tips can also be submitted through Meld Misdaad Anoniem.

This case remains open, and further developments are expected as forensic analysis and interrogations continue. The investigation is being treated as a coordinated criminal operation, and authorities are examining links to broader organised networks.

Anyone with information related to the theft is urged to contact the Dutch police through their tip lines or via email at tips-assen@politie.nl. Anonymous tips can also be submitted through Meld Misdaad Anoniem.

Sunday's Musée du Louvre heist has captivated global attention as an example of a spectacular daylight raid on one of the world’s most visited and symbolically important cultural institutions. Yet, while the audacity and precision of the theft are shocking, the event is not unique, nor is it just a "France" problem.  

Museums across the world, from Berlin to Hyderabad, from Dresden to Cardiff, have been targeted for their treasures. Whether it is the glint of gold, the rarity of ancient gems, or the prestige of royal jewels, institutions that safeguard the world’s cultural inheritance have face the dual challenge of welcoming the public while defending against those who would steal from it. The Louvre Museum incident is therefore part of a much larger pattern, one that reveals the enduring allure and vulnerability of gold and jewels, history, and craftsmanship in a modern world that can strategically monetise cultural patrimony. 

Here is a list of some recent noteworthy museum heists, some with recoveries, others not:

1. British Museum (London, UK) – curator-linked insider theft (~2009-2018 publicly revealed)

The suspected perpetrator is a former veteran curator, Peter Higgs, who held a senior post in the Greece & Rome department. The museum claims Higgs used his privileged access and knowledge of the collection’s gaps to remove items, alter or delete records, then sell them — often via eBay and PayPal under false identities — over a period spanning at least several years. 

On 26 March 2024, a London High Court ordered Higgs to list all allegedly stolen items, return what he still holds, and disclose the proceeds of sales.  The case is particularly notable because it underscores how insider threats — curators or staff with access to collections — can pose severe risks to heritage institutions, not just late-night break-ins or external smash-and-grabs.

2. Bode Museum, Berlin – 27 March 2017

The thieves then wheeled the coin out aided by insider knowledge of the museum’s security schedule. The heist shocked the museum world because of its audacity, the sheer weight of the object stolen, and the implication that even highly visible landmarks remain vulnerable to well-planned operations.  

The coin was never recovered and most believe it was melted down soon after the theft. 

3. Musée du Hiéron, Paray-le-Monial – 29 June 2017

The case is emblematic of how relatively modest regional institutions can be targeted for objects of substantial heritage value and how some thefts draw only short-lived media attention.

4. Doges Palace, Venice - 3 January 2018

According to the incident's reconstruction using cameras surveillance footage, two thieves, one serving as lookout and a second culprit who actively broke into a display case located in the Sala dello Scrutinio, quickly made off with 10 carat, grade D diamond and ruby pendant brooch and a pair of pear-shaped 30.2-carat diamond earrings in a platinum setting. As soon as the display case was breached, sounding an alarm, the pair deftly escaped through the crowded museum gallery, blending in among the patrons and were out of the museum before security could seal the museum's perimeter to apprehend them.

Both items belonged to His Highness Sheikh Hamad bin Abdullah Al-Thani, a member of the Qatari royal family, who is the first cousin of the current emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani.  

5. Musée Dobrée, Nantes – 13-14 April 2018 

After narrowly escaping being melted down after the French Revolution, the 16th century gold case containing the heart of Anne of Brittany, the only woman to have twice been crowned queen of France was stolen along with other items from the Musée Dobrée in a nighttime burglary between 13-14 April 2018 in Nantes.

6. Strängnäs Cathedral - 31 July 2018

Two thieves entered the Strängnäs Cathedral one hour west of Stockholm during opening hours and quickly made their way down to the lower sacristy at the far left of the cathedral, the room where royal jewels were kept. One there, they smashed a jagged hole into the bottom left of the glass case where the objects were displayed, stealing two crowns and an orb used at the funerals of King Karl IX and Queen Kristina.    

Exiting the museum at a brisk pace, the pair escaped on bicycles before boarding a boat on Lake Mälaren which contains hundreds of islands and is surrounded by several large towns and the capital, Stockholm.  Two accomplices, Johan Nicklas Bäckström and Martin Cannermo were convicted in the Attunda District Court in  large part due to the amount of DNA evidence left behind.   The jewels were recovered the following year in February. 

7. Nizam Museum, Hyderabad – 2 September 2018

In this theft the perpetrators were arrested in the following weeks and the objects were recovered. This heist underlined the vulnerability of heritage sites in parts of India, where lesser-known treasures may attract opportunistic thieves, and like with the Louvre museum, the site faces security challenges include mixing public access with historical building layouts.

8. Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire (UK) – 14 September 2019

The intruders drove two stolen vehicles through locked wooden gates, entered the palace grounds just before 5 am, smashed a window and a heavy door, detached the art piece from its plumbing connections (which caused flooding and structural damage to the historic building) and left the site within roughly five minutes. 

Despite subsequent arrests and a trial, with men jailed for their roles in the theft, the gold artwork has never been recovered and is widely believed to have been cut up or melted down for its bullion value.  This case stands out not only for the extraordinary value of the object, but for the dramatic nature of the heist: a major heritage site, a pre-planned reconnaissance (one suspect reportedly visited the palace twice ahead of the theft), and an artwork that itself criticises excess and privilege.

Police are seeking six suspects who ransacked the17th-century French Chateau Vaux-le-Vicomte near Paris, and tied up the palaces owners before making off with a haul worth €2m (£1.8m), authorities have said.

9. Chateau Vaux-le-Vicom (Maincy) – Mid September 2019

In the hours before dawn, six masked thieves crept into the private quarters of the lavish 17th-century chateau Vaux-le-Vicomte and tied up 90-year-old Patrice de Vogüé and his 78-year-old wife, Cristina, with neckties, according to local police. 

The couple, who opens the palatial home to the public, were uninjured, however the  thieves made off with an estimated €2 million in cash, emeralds and other jewels from the Baroque chateau's safe, which they emptied. 

10. Green Vault (Grünes Gewölbe), Dresden – 25 November 2019

This case exposes how even well-guarded state museums with legacy architecture and internationally renowned treasures can still fall victim to organised crime networks, in this case members of one of the Arabische Großfamilie clans. 

11. Museum of Applied Arts, Belgrade (Muzej Primenjene Umetnosti) – 2019

Although precise dates and object lists remain incomplete publicly, the incident illustrates how institutional under-resourcing and internal vulnerabilities can enable thefts of culturally significant material, especially where tracking and transparency may be weaker than in major Western European museums.

12. Museo Civico a Palazzo Guicciardini ( Montopoli) - 28 October 2020

Thieves gained entry to this historic palazzo from the building's rear garden, forcing open the only unbarred window located between the first and second floors and bypassing the alarmed entrance and bookshop.  Once inside, they stole 17th silver, and silver and brass liturgical objects as well as metal antiquities, scooping up as mucg as they could and throwing the pieces haphazardly into garbage bags. 

13. Arundel Castle (West Sussex) - 21 May 2021

At approximately 10:30 pm, thieves targeted the medieval castle in Arundel.  Despite responding within minutes of the alarm going off, Sussex police arrived to find a burnt-out car, thought to be connected to the heist, and a display cabinet in the dining room stripped of £1 million worth of historic gold and silver artefacts, including a 16th Century set of gold and enamel rosary beads made up of a crucifix and a string of five decades made up of small beads, with five larger beads.  This rosary was carried by Mary Queen of Scots to her execution at Fotheringhay Castle in 1587 and was bequeathed by her to Anne, Countess of Arundel, wife of St. Philip Howard.  In addition to these, several coronation cups given by Mary to the Earl Marshal of the day, and other gold and silver objects were taken. 

14. Kelten‑ & Römermuseum Manching – 21-22 November 2022

Tens of thousands of pounds worth of antique silver artefacts were stolen in an early morning raid between 02:40 and 03:30 GMT at this military museum in Nottinghamshire at Thoresby Park.

19. Musée Saint‑Remi – December 2023

Highlighting a case of insider threat, at the end of 2023 (inventory in December), the Musée Saint-Remi in Reims discovered that 130 coins: Roman, medieval and modern, which were missing from its storage. The losses triggered a formal investigation and, in early 2025, by cross-border cooperation Russia-France, seized matching coins from Moscow. Although perhaps lower in headline value than giant jewellery sets, the case is important for illustrating how gradual internal losses of heritage items may go undetected until routine checks reveal the gap, especially in institutions with littler public visibility.

Forty-nine jewellery pieces, created by twentieth century sculptor, painter, and Italian partisan, Umberto Mastroianni and loaned by his heir Paola Molinengo Sosta disappeared during a burglary between 5/6 March 2024 at the house-museum, Vittoriale degli Italiani in Gardone Riviera, which was once home to Italian poet and novelist Gabriele D'Annunzio. A 50th object was dropped when the thief or thieves departed.

21. Ely Museum – 7 May 2024

In the early hours of 7 May 2024, thieves broke into Ely Museum (Cambridgeshire, UK) and stole a Bronze-Age gold torc and matching gold bracelet dating back ~3,000 years. This theft highlights that even smaller local museums housing valuable examples of pre-historic metalwork are vulnerable to great losses as their artefacts are highly portable, extremely rare, and often less visible in high-security circles, making them tempting targets for specialist thieves.

22. Musée Cognacq‑Jay, Paris – 20 November 2024

On 20 November 2024, daytime thieves burst into the Musée Cognacq-Jay in Paris, stealing precious snuff-boxes and other luxury items from 18th-century collections. This daylight robbery in a central Paris museum, like the Louvre's underscores that the risk is not limited to dramatic late-night smash-and-grabs.  This meticulously planned raid, like the Louvre, lasted only minutes, during which the thieves targeted small but immensely valuable £5 million collection, due to their portability and worth.   It demonstrates that even open-hours thefts in busy urban settings are possible when the thieves planning and execute their crimes with precision.  

Thankfully, we have some recent recoveries in this incident. 

23. Musée du Hiéron (again) – 21 November 2024

Just one day after the Musée Cognacq-Jay thefts, on 21 November 2024, the Musée du Hiéron in France suffered its own bold daylight robbery of sacred art and jewellery. The fact that the same institution was hit so soon after a theft in Paris underlines what happens when vulnerabilities are exposed: criminals may act quickly to exploit perceived weakness.

Once the glass was breached, the culprits quickly snatched as many of the small gold and ivory statuettes and jewel encrusted elements as they could and in just two minutes the deed was done and the thieves' escape was made.

24. Museo Diocesano di Nocera – 14 January 2025

In a nighttime burglary, three thieves broke into the the Diocesan Museum of San Prisco, located within the Episcopal Curia of Nocera Inferiore and stole a series of votive objects and precious objects including Jewellery, bracelets, rings and votive offerings from three display cases which were part of the Treasure of San Prisco, estimated to be worth tens of thousands of euros

25. Drents Museum, Assen – 25 January 2025

On 25 January 2025, early morning, thieves used an explosive device at the underground garden entrance of the Drents Museum in Assen (Netherlands) to gain entry. The blast broke windows and enabled the hoist of ancient gold bracelets and a gold crown on loan from Romania’s national museum. Later official statements described this as a major cross-border heritage crime. 

This incident showcases how extreme force and organised crime tactics may be used, as well as how valuable insured items on loan may be targets.

26. Historisches Museum Basel – Late May 2025

A historic finger ring was stolen from the Haus zum Kirschgarten, one of the three exhibition halls of the Basel Historical Museum. The ring bears the initials "B M" and is made from a piece of jewelry that Tsar Alexander I (1777–1825) presented to his hostess at the Segerhof in Basel as a gift in January 1814.  The theft was discovered at the end of May 2025 but was only made public in June 2025. 

27.  Egyptian Museum - September 2025

A 3,000-year-old gold bracelet once belonging to Pharaoh Amenemope was stolen from a secure safe inside the Egyptian Museum in Cairo by a restoration specialist entrusted with its care. Rather than being preserved or sold intact, the artefact was melted down for its metal content, reducing an irreplaceable piece of Egypt’s ancient history to bullion worth only a small amount on the open market. The act represents not only a profound betrayal of professional trust but also a stark illustration of how the price of gold can incentivise destruction of world heritage, even for comparatively trivial financial gain.

28. Royal Albert Memorial Museum and Art Gallery,  Exeter  – 10 September 2025

Seventeen antique pocket watches and a a flintlock blunderbuss firearm were taken during an overnight theft at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum and Art Gallery after two people forced their way into the museum. 

29. Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle (Paris) – 15-16 September 2025

On 16 September 2025, a lone thief broke into the geology/mineralogy gallery of the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle (Jardin des Plantes, Paris) and stole an Australian gold nugget weighing five kilos as well as smaller ones, from California and Bolivia, valued at ~€600,000. The targeted nature of the theft (raw gold specimens) indicates a recurring modus operandi: thefts in museums focused on easily transportable and smelt-able assets even within large heritage institutions.

On 21 October 2025 Paris Prosecutor Laure Beccuau announced that a 24-year-old Chinese woman has been arrested. Investigaors determined that she had left France the day of the break-in and was preparing to return to China. At the time of her arrest on October 13th, she was trying to dispose of nearly one kilogram (2.2 pounds) of melted gold.

30.  Sain Ffagan National Museum of History, Cardiff (Wales) – 6 October 2025

At 12:30 AM on 6 October 2025, two suspects smashed their way into the main building of  Sain Ffaganin Cardiff and pulled off one of the fastest museum heists on record, just four minutes from entry to exit. 

Just days after the dramatic burglary at the Louvre Museum in Paris, French authorities reported an overnight burglary at the Musée de la Maison des Lumières Denis Diderot in Langres (Haute-Marne) where a “treasure” of gold and silver coins was stolen. According to local police the entry was detected around 11 a.m. on the morning after windows were found broken and a sliding door forced, but by then the thieves had already made off with the items, which reportedly came from a cache of some 2,000 coins worth roughly €90,000 when first discovered in 2011.