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Tuesday, 14 July 2026
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Netherlands·Romania

Dutch art heist convict launches clothing brand featuring stolen Romanian helmet

Saturday, 6 June 2026, 06:58 · 1 min read

A man convicted of the high-profile 2024 theft of ancient Romanian artefacts from the Drents Museum (a regional history museum in Assen, in the northern Netherlands) has launched an online clothing shop selling T-shirts bearing the image of the golden helmet of Cotofenești, the most prized item stolen. Douglas Chesley W., 37, was sentenced on Tuesday to nearly four years in prison along with two co-defendants; he wore one of the T-shirts — printed with the words 'BOOK ARREST', a play on Bucharest, the Romanian capital — during the court verdict. His lawyer confirmed the shop was set up by people close to his client and not from prison, though its registered postal address is the Schiphol detention complex where W. is being held; prosecutors said they had taken note of the webshop but declined to comment further.

Sources
NOS NieuwsDader kunstroof Assen start kledingwebshop: T-shirts met afbeelding gouden helm ↗︎
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