Overview
- Construction workers renovating a former brewery villa in Sint‑Gillis‑Dendermonde found a concealed stash earlier this week while laying sewer pipes.
- The haul is estimated at about €9 million and reportedly includes numbered bullion bars, roughly 4,000 old coins and at least one gold nugget sealed inside a bricked‑in cellar wall.
- Local police photographed and inventoried the items before placing them in a high‑security federal vault and the East Flanders public prosecutor opened an investigation into origin and ownership.
- Belgian civil law gives any rightful owner up to five years to claim hidden valuables and, if no claimant appears and no criminal link is found, the find can be split between the finder and the property owner.
- The property is owned by CAW Oost‑Vlaanderen, which has said it hopes the proceeds could aid its work, while police have secured the site and warned off treasure hunters as the legal process proceeds.