Two almost identical robberies one month apart within 100 kilometers. The Museum of Villena and the Provincial Museum of Albacete have been robbed to steal two collections with high historical and ethnographic value with a common denominator: they are composed of gold pieces. The Judicial Police of the Civil Guard is investigating the two lootings separately but does not rule out that they may be connected.
The valuable Treasure of Villena was stolen from the Muvi in the Alicante town in just four minutes. Three hooded men entered the room through one of the windows around 5:20 a.m. on Thursday and took all the gold pieces on display that make it up. They were recorded by the security cameras, which has allowed verifying that they knew exactly what they were looking for, although they also took three gold crowns of the Virgin of the Virtues. In total, a loot that, by the price of gold, could exceed 1.5 million euros but has an incalculable historical value as it is the largest collection of Bronze Age pieces in Europe, only comparable to those found in the tombs of Mycenae, Greece.
Sources from the investigation confirm to El Mundo that these are very well-known pieces that would have a difficult exit on the black market, although they do not rule out that it could be a “theft on commission.” The greatest fear is that they could end up melted to commercialize the gold.
What is not in doubt is that it is a professional gang because, as confirmed by the mayor of Villena, Fulgencio Cerdán, and the government subdelegate in Alicante, Manuel Pineda, it was orchestrated: at 5:16 a.m. the alarm sounded at the sports center, at the other end of the town, and at 5:20 the museum alarm. When the security company called the Command at 5:23 a.m., the thieves were already leaving the Muvi at 5:24. They left the silver vessels of the Treasure and a crown of the Virgin, “which must have fallen during their escape,” said the mayor.
On July 27, in the same way, 220 gold coins from the 19th century were stolen from the Provincial Museum of Albacete. In this case, four hooded men accessed through a window at midnight and raided the archaeology room where two collections of gold coins were kept, which belonged to the Ministry of Culture and were in the Manchego museum as part of a traveling collection.
The first consists of 42 gold coins from the reigns of Charles III, Charles IV, and Isabella II that were found in Madrigueras, while the second was 180 gold pieces, dated between 1850 and 1860, found in Villamalea, another town in Albacete.
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As in the case of Villena, they had vehicles prepared for escape. A few hours after the robbery in Albacete, a car was found burned.
Another precedent in Badajoz
In recent months, to this list of plunders in local and provincial museums is added the theft, also of gold pieces, that occurred in the early hours of Saturday, April 25, 2026, at the Provincial Archaeological Museum of Badajoz. The thieves took the 149 complete gold coins that made up the so-called Treasure of Villanueva de la Serena, which had only been on display for a few months.
They entered using a ladder, forcing one of the bars at the back of the building. They had identified what they were looking for and, in just a few minutes, without being detected by security personnel.
The coins, minted between 1772 and 1822 in Madrid, Mexico, Lima, Potosí, Popayán, Santiago, Seville, and the New Kingdom during the reigns of Charles III, Charles IV, and Ferdinand VII, were hidden in November 1987 in the old Rialto Cinema of Villanueva de la Serena, which in the 1820s had been a manor house. They are part of the National Heritage and were guarded by the Junta of Extremadura.
These robberies have sparked a debate about the security protocols followed in museums, where it is proving easy for organized groups to orchestrate a raid.
