Belgian Student Unearths €9 Million Gold Hoard on Construction Site
An 18-year-old student discovered an estimated €9 million in gold coins and bullion hidden in a cellar wall while digging a sewage trench in Belgium. The treasure is now under police custody pending a formal investigation and a complex ownership dispute.
Key takeaways
- A teenager working on a construction site found an estimated €9 million worth of gold in Sint-Gillis-Dendermonde.
- The hoard, containing coins, nuggets, and bullion, was hidden in a bricked-up cellar of a former 19th-century brewery.
- The gold is currently held in a secure facility in Brussels pending a criminal background check by the East Flanders public prosecutor.
- Belgian law requires a five-year waiting period before ownership of found treasure can be finalised.
What Happened
An 18-year-old student working a summer construction job unearthed an estimated €9 million in hidden gold while digging trenches for a new sewage system. The discovery took place on a Tuesday morning at a building site located on Van Langenhovestraat in Sint-Gillis-Dendermonde, approximately 30 kilometres northwest of Brussels. The student, identified only by his first name Kobe, initially mistook the visible items for one-euro coins before uncovering a substantial cache of gold bars, nuggets, and coins.
The treasure was concealed inside a bag hidden behind a bricked-in cellar wall beneath a large villa. Upon realising the scale of the find, the construction workers halted their excavation and immediately alerted local police and the property developers.
Background
The property where the gold was found is a listed 19th-century villa originally constructed for Theophilus Van Assche, a wealthy local businessman. The site operated as an active brewery from 1899 until production ceased in 1970. The original wrought-iron gates, which still display Van Assche's initials, remain on the premises.
A social welfare organisation, CAW Oost-Vlaanderen, is currently undertaking a complete renovation of the historic property to convert the gutted structure into new offices and residential housing. According to Geert Hillaert, a representative for CAW, labourers were installing drainage pipes through the remaining structural walls when the hoard was intercepted.
Why It Matters
The discovery triggers a complex legal process regarding the rightful ownership of the €9 million fortune. Because the hoard includes numbered bullion bars alongside coins and nuggets, authorities have a distinct paper trail to investigate. Former Dendermonde mayor Piet Buyse noted that the original owners likely converted a portion of their wealth into gold to secure it within the family estate, setting the stage for historical claims.
Key Facts
- The cache is valued at approximately €9 million and includes numbered bullion bars, nuggets, and coins.
- The find occurred during sewage trench excavation at a former brewery in Sint-Gillis-Dendermonde, Belgium.
- The gold was deliberately hidden in a bricked-up cellar wall beneath a 19th-century villa.
- Social welfare organisation CAW Oost-Vlaanderen owns the site and is renovating it for housing and offices.
What Happens Next
The recovered gold has been transported to a secure facility in Brussels while authorities conduct a formal investigation. Hanne Ollevier from the East Flanders public prosecutor’s office stated that investigators must first rule out any connections to stolen property or criminal enterprises.
Belgian property and inheritance laws dictate that finders must observe a mandatory five-year waiting period to allow potential owners to present a claim. Legal experts anticipate a multi-party civil dispute over the assets, with potential claims originating from the building contractors, the CAW welfare organisation, and surviving descendants of the Van Assche family.
Sources reviewed
Project Chintan independently synthesized and analyzed information cross-checked across the sources listed above.
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