Top city museum burglary as 11 high value items stolen during daring heist

13 February 2023 , 13:15

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The Princessehof Ceramics Museum in Leeuwarden, Netherlands, which was burgled this morning (Image: Stuart Forster/REX/Shutterstock)

A total of 11 high-value items have been stolen from a museum in the Netherlands in a daring heist.

Burglars forced their way into the Princessehof Ceramics Museum in Leeuwarden in the north of the country early this morning.

Police said they received an automatic report of a break-in at around 3.45am and sent a large response in the hopes of catching the thieves.

“It soon became clear that it was an actual burglary,” the police said. “Several items were taken.”

Cordoning off the area, officers sweeped through the building but couldn't find any sign of the burglars.

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They did, however, find some items from the museum on a nearby street - around 100 metres from the scene of the crime.

Cops added that this area is also being investigated.

This regular looking dish is one of the most spectacular objects in the collection - with a similar one fetching 30million Euros (£26.5million) at auction

The specific items that were burgled are still under investigation, but the museum houses some of the country's most prized ceramic creations.

These include priceless Chinese Ming vases that date back to 2800 BC, as well as other ceramic art from the likes of Pablo Picasso, Dutch artist Lucebert, and Dutch painter Armando.

Forensics teams have searched the scene and collected trace evidence, and locals have been interviewed by the police.

Officials are asking for witnesses and for members of the public to check their surveillance cameras to see if they receorded anything unusual near the museum.

The collection includes priceless Ming vases (Stuart Forster/REX/Shutterstock)

In 2020, detectives probing a fioled heist targeting Rembrandt paintings were probing potential links to other art raids in the UK and Europe.

Flying Squad officers examined the possibility that burglars who escaped empty- handed from Dulwich Picture Gallery in South East London in November 2019 were part of a gang of international art thieves.

In a six-month period between 2019 and 2020, crooks stole valuable art works in three similar burglaries, targeting loaned art in small galleries with less sophisticated security.

The Dulwich burglars abseiled through a skylight and set off an alarm. One fled after spraying an unknown substance in the face of a police officer.

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Thefts they examined include that of paintings worth an estimated £10million from an Oxford college.

Works by Anthony Van Dyck, Annibale Carracci and Salvator Rosa were taken from Christ Church Picture Gallery. Thames Valley police said they were keeping an “open mind” on whether it is linked to other investigations.

Ryan Fahey