Spain: Thieves steal Bronze Age gold in lightning raid on Villena Museum
One of the world's greatest Bronze Age gold collections has been swiped, almost in its entirety, from Villena Museum. A highly professional group of thieves were in and out in four minutes flat before the museum opened.
On Thursday, a group of highly skilled thieves conducted a swift and professional raid on the Villena Museum in eastern Spain, stealing nearly the entire collection of Bronze Age gold artifacts. The alarm was triggered at approximately 5:20 a.m., and within four minutes, the thieves had vanished, leaving behind only a few items.
Mayor Fulgencio Cerdan expressed devastation, stating that the theft destroys the heritage and wealth of the Villena community. The collection, discovered in 1963, includes over 50 gold objects dated between 1300 and 1000 BCE, with an estimated value of €1.7 million ($2 million). The museum's security systems were reportedly activated, but no failures were reported.
This incident follows a series of high-profile museum heists in Europe, including the recent theft of priceless Renaissance paintings from a Sicilian museum and the Louvre Museum robbery in Paris.
Written by urgent.news from DW English (Top Stories)'s reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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