Dutch police have released surveillance camera footage of the heist at the Drents Museum in Assen, in which at least four priceless pieces of Dacia gold were stolen.

The footage shows three men breaking open the outside door and then setting off an explosion shortly before 4 am on Saturday. No faces are visible and all three appear to be wearing hooded tops.  According to the Telegraaf, the thieves were in and out within three minutes.

A delegation from the National History Museum in Bucharest is due in Assen on Sunday to check out the damage and determine if anything else has been taken.

Among the stolen items is the golden helmet of Cotofenesti, crafted from almost pure gold and dating from 500 BC, along with three gold arm bands.

Interpol has now been called in to assist with the investigation and the police have appealed for eyewitnesses and anyone with dashcam footage to come forward.

Museum chief Harry Tupan said on Saturday it was a dark day for both the Assen museum and the Romanian museum, which had lent the pieces to the exhibition. “Nothing like this has ever happened in our 170 year history,” he said in a statement.

Ernest Oberlander-Tarnoveanu, the Romanian museum director, said that he hopes the items will be brought back safely. “That is my only hope,” he told broadcaster NOS. “They are so important it will be impossible to sell them.”

The exhibition, Dacia – Realm of Gold and Silver, featured more than 50 gold and silver artifacts from the pre-Roman kingdom and was set to close on Sunday.

Culture minister Eppo Bruins said the Netherlands will do everything it can to recover the items. “These historical artifacts are of great significance to Romania and its cultural heritage,” he said.

Romanian foreign minister Emil Hurezeanu has spoken to his Dutch counterpart, Caspar Veldkamp, “emphasising the exceptional cultural and symbolic significance of the stolen pieces and highlighting the “profound emotional impact this incident generates in Romania,” according to a Romanian government statement.