Kobe, an 18-year-old student worker, found a hidden hoard of Belgium gold bars, coins and nuggets worth an estimated €9m while digging a sewer trench in Sint-Gillis-Dendermonde on Tuesday. He and his colleagues were laying drainage pipes at a former brewery site when they uncovered the stash in a bricked-in cellar wall.
“We suddenly saw something lying there,” Kobe said to VTM. “At first I thought it was €1 coins. So we started digging them up. Then we saw a gold bar. It turned out to be a bit more than we thought.”
Van Langenhovestraat and Brussels
The gold was in a bag beneath a grand villa on Van Langenhovestraat in Sint-Gillis-Dendermonde, about 19 miles north-west of Brussels. The property is being completely renovated by CAW Oost-Vlaanderen to create new offices and housing, and the find was made while labourers worked on the drainage system.
Geert Hillaert said: “The Brouwershuis was a beautiful building, but it is being completely gutted. Ultimately, only the walls will remain. Labourers were laying drainage pipes when they stumbled across the gold.” Kobe said: “It was really bricked in there – not in a safe or anything.”
CAW Oost-Vlaanderen and ownership
After the discovery, Kobe and his colleagues called the police and notified CAW. The treasure has since been transferred to a secure facility in Brussels while authorities verify whether the bullion was stolen property or the proceeds of criminal activity before anyone can claim it.
Belgian law gives potential owners at least five years to come forward, so the find is not yet tied to any one person or family. Piet Buyse said: “certainly stayed in the family. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if they had decided to put at least some of it in gold, and then to hide it in a safe place.”
Kobe said: “If it had been a few coins, maybe not,” and added, “But maybe we’ll get some kind of finder’s reward eventually.” For now, the practical issue is simpler: the gold is secured, its origin is under review, and ownership still has to be decided.
