THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Three men were each sentenced to 47 months in prison on Friday for the theft of an ornate Romanian gold helmet and bracelets in a raid on a Dutch museum.
The Northern Netherlands District Court said the three men, whose identities were not released in line with privacy rules, warranted a custodial sentence “because of the nature and gravity” of their crime.
The Cotofenesti helmet and three golden bracelets — some of Romania’s most revered national treasures from the Dacia civilization — were stolen from the Drents Museum in January 2025 while they were on loan for an exhibition.
Cornel Constantin Ilie, the interim director of Bucharest’s National History Museum, described them as “relics of our historical memory, as the legacy of a civilization that continues to define us.”
The helmet and two of the bracelets were found earlier this year after prosecutors agreed a deal with two of the thieves who helped facilitate the recovery in return for a lower sentencing demand by prosecutors. The third bracelet is still missing.
“The art treasures are part of Romania’s past and are of great importance to current and future generations,” a written summary of the court verdict said.
The court said the treasures were insured for 5.7 million euros ($6.6 million), but added “that is just a number, whereas the importance and value of objects like these cannot be expressed in money. They are, in a literal sense, priceless.” The recovered artifacts have been returned to Romania.
Thieves used a homemade firework bomb and sledgehammer to break into the museum. Security video distributed by police after the raid appeared to show three people opening a museum door with a large crowbar, followed by an explosion.
While only two of the three suspects helped prosecutors get back the artifacts, judges gave all three reduced sentences, saying that they all should “profit from the return of the treasures.”
FILE - A stolen artefact from Romania, the 2,500-year-old Cotofenesti helmet, recovered in Netherlands, is shown during a press conference in Assen, Netherlands, Thursday, April 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Aleksandar Furtula, File)
BEIRUT (AP) — Israeli airstrikes on southern Lebanon Saturday killed nine people including three members of the Lebanese military, the Lebanese army and state media said, days after the two sides reached a new ceasefire deal.
An airstrike on the road linking the city of Nabatiyeh with the town of Marjayoun occurred in the morning killing a brigadier general, a captain and another soldier, the army said without immediately releasing their names.
Another airstrike on the southern village of Saksakiyah killed six people and wounded four, state-run National News Agency said.
“The continued, deliberate, and repeated Israeli aggression against Lebanon, its people and its army only strengthens our resolve, faith and determination," the army said in its statement.
It said Israel's attacks aim to thwart all efforts “to reach a solution that would restore stability, establish a comprehensive ceasefire and lead to the Israeli withdrawal from the occupied Lebanese territories.”
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on the airstrike that killed the troops.
The latest declared ceasefire came about through U.S.-brokered talks between Israel and Lebanon’s government, which accuses Hezbollah of dragging the country into war and had made efforts to disarm it before the latest hostilities. The Lebanese militant group has refused the truce.
The airstrikes came a day after Lebanon’s president and prime minister criticized Iran for opposing the latest ceasefire deal between the Lebanese government and Israel, saying their country should not be used by Tehran as a “bargaining chip” in its talks with Washington.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi responded in a post on X Saturday by saying that after President Joseph Aoun's comments “one would think it’s Iran that has occupied a fifth of Lebanon, displaced a quarter of Lebanese and is bombing his country on daily basis.”
“Had Lebanon been a bargaining chip for Iran, we’d have a deal long ago. Save Lebanon from your real foe, Mr. President,” Araghchi said in reference to Israel.
The war began on March 2 when Hezbollah fired rockets at northern Israel, two days after Israel and the U.S. began their attacks on Iran. Israel has since launched a ground invasion of Lebanon and carried out wide attacks that have displaced more than 1 million people.
Israeli troops have seized around a fifth of Lebanon, pushing further into the country’s south than at any time since the end of Israel’s 1982-2000 occupation.
More than 3,500 people have been killed in Lebanon since the war began. The fighting has killed at least 29 Israeli soldiers and three civilians.
A view of Beaufort Castle, southeast Lebanon, Friday, June 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
