section_path: Investigation
section_name: Investigation
paragraph_text: Investigation
  
  Forensic teams and investigators examined the site and analyzed CCTV footage throughout the day. Authorities are also investigating a vehicle (dark gray Volkswagen Golf) found burning on a nearby road, suspecting it may have been connected to the crime. Next to that a Ford Transit was involved.
  
  Dutch police indicated that it was plausible the perpetrators switched vehicles after abandoning the burning car, suggesting the involvement of multiple individuals in the heist. Interpol was contacted to assist with the case.
  
  After the robbery investigations were conducted in Alkmaar, Witmarsum, Groningen, Assen and Rolde. In the television program Opsporing Verzocht, appeals were made to the people.
  
  On January 27 a sledgehammer was found in the water on the museum grounds, which may have been used in the heist.
  
  On January 28 it was announced that the suspects are from North Holland. The following day, the Dutch police arrested three suspects in Heerhugowaard, North Holland. They were tracked down after police found a bag that was left behind in a neighborhood in Assen, including clothes in it. Due to the importance of finding the stolen pieces, the police released the identity and images of two of the three suspects on January 30, which is very uncommon in the Netherlands in case of already arrested suspects. The two identified suspects were Douglas Chelsey Wendersteyt and Bernard Zeeman both from Heerhugowaard. The identity of the third suspect, a woman also from Heerhugowaard, was not released. The home of a neighbor of the two named suspects – a Romanian woman – was searched as well, though police stated she is not a suspect. As of April 2025, two other suspects have been arrested, a 20-year-old man and an 18-year-old man, both from Heerhugowaard.
  
  According to sources cited by RTL Nieuws, the helmet was stolen by criminals linked to the illegal outlaw motorcycle club Hardliners. The heist was on the instructions of a Romanian criminal who wanted to trade in the helmet for a reduced sentence, hence the helmet is likely still intact. However the helmet was reportedly dropped on the ground once during the heist.