An ordinary summer job turned into a real life treasure hunt for an 18-year-old Belgian student, Kobe, after he stumbled upon a hidden hoard of gold worth an estimated €9 million while digging trenches for a new sewage system.
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According to The Guardian, Kobe was working with colleagues at the construction site when they spotted the objects while laying drainage pipes, initially unaware that they had stumbled upon a fortune.
First appeared to be a handful of €1 coins soon turned out to be gold coins, nuggets and numbered bullion bars concealed inside a bricked in cellar wall beneath a grand villa. The extraordinary discovery was made at the site of a former brewery on Van Langenhovestraat in Sint-Gillis-Dendermonde, around 30km north-west of Brussels.
The treasure was deliberately concealed inside a bag placed within a bricked-in cellar wall beneath a grand villa. The hidden hoard included gold coins, nuggets and numbered bullion bars, with its total value estimated at around €9 million.
Kobe and his colleagues immediately alerted the police after stumbling upon the gold hoard. CAW Oost-Vlaanderen, the social welfare organisation carrying out the renovation of the property, was informed about the discovery. The entire treasure has since been moved to a secure facility in Brussels, where authorities are conducting a detailed investigation to determine its legal ownership.
The discovery has now opened a complex legal question over who can claim the fortune. Hanne Ollevier of the East Flanders public prosecutor’s office said authorities must first establish that the bullion was not stolen property or the proceeds of criminal activity. The investigation will also have to determine whether the building contractors, CAW Oost-Vlaanderen or descendants of the Van Assche family could have a claim to the treasure.
A possible clue to the treasure’s origins has emerged from the history of the Van Assche family. Piet Buyse, a former mayor of Dendermonde, said the family’s fortune had “certainly stayed in the family” and suggested it would not be surprising if they had converted at least some of their wealth into gold and hidden it in a safe place.
For Kobe and his colleagues, the sheer scale of the discovery made it clear that the treasure had to be handed over to the authorities. Kobe said they understood immediately that a find of this magnitude could not simply be kept. “If it had been a few coins, maybe not,” he said, adding that they may eventually receive some kind of finder’s reward.
