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Bronze Age Gold Stolen from Spain's Villena Museum in Four-Minute Heist
Investigators are examining a possible diversion alarm as police try to recover most of the 3,000-year-old gold hoard, officials said.
On Thursday, thieves raided a museum in Alicante housing one of Europe's greatest bronze age gold collections, escaping in an operation officials described as "super-fast and super-professional."
Archaeologist Jose Mar discovered the collection in 1963 in a dried riverbed in Villena, with pieces dating back about 1,000 BC; the 50-plus objects include 29 bracelets, 11 bowls, and three bottles.
The alarm sounded around 5:20 am, and thieves had fled by 5:24 am; a spokesman insisted "all security systems were activated" with "no failure" despite investigating a possible diversion at the sports centre.
Across Europe, a series of brazen thefts includes four works "of extraordinary value" stolen from a Sicily museum; last October, thieves took $102 million in jewelry from the Louvre in Paris in under eight minutes.
Police are conducting an inventory to determine exactly how many of the 50-plus items were taken, with authorities assessing the full extent of loss from the collection as the investigation continues.