Teen discovers €9 million gold hoard in Dendermonde, police secure find amid ownership probe

While working on a building renovation in Dendermonde, teenage student Philip Kobe uncovered a stash of gold bars and thousands of sovereign coins estimated at €9 million. Police chief Patrick Feys first stored the treasure under intense guard and later transferred it to a secret secure location. The East Flanders prosecutor’s office is now probing the origin, considering possibilities from wartime concealment to a hoard hidden by the former Van Assche brewing family, whose last heirs died childless in the 1980s. Local historians Luc Michiels and Johan Van Damme note the family's reclusive reputation but find no documentary proof. Eccentric claimants from abroad have contacted authorities, but officials stress that only legally established owners will be recognized, and Belgian law may award the treasure to the charity CAW if ownership remains unresolved.