Builders find hidden treasure chest filled with gold worth £7.5million while doing renovation work in a cellar

By PERKIN AMALARAJ, FOREIGN NEWS REPORTER Published: 11:20, 14 August 2026 | Updated: 11:22, 14 August 2026 Builders renovating a cellar in a home in Belgium have stumbled on a hidden treasure chest filled with £7.5million worth of gold.  The hoard was found as a Belgian firm worked on a former brewhouse in the town of Sint-Gillis-Dendermonde on Monday morning.  The chest, which was hidden in a wall, contained gold bars, gold nuggets and a mountain of coins.   Upon finding the stash, the contractors immediately called the client, a charity called CAW Oost-Vlaanderen, as well as the police.  Cops are now investigating the source of the treasure, as it is currently unclear how it ended up in the building. Many of the gold bars appear to have been stamped around 1957 and 1961. Geert Hillaert of CAW Oost-Vlaanderen told local media that it may be several years before the hoard's original owners are found.  He said: 'First, it must be investigated to what extent the gold can be linked to criminal acts from the past.  'In addition, it is being examined whether rightful owners can still be found in some way.' The hoard was found as a Belgian firm worked on a former brewhouse in the town of Sint-Gillis-Dendermonde The chest, which was hidden in a wall, contained gold bars, gold nuggets and a mountain of coins Cops are now investigating the source of the treasure It's not yet clear whether the charity or the construction firm will get anything for finding the treasure.  Earlier this week, it was revealed that Britain abandoned its claim to a £5.5billion treasure from a Royal Navy shipwreck near Gibraltar over fears it would upset Spain.   Leaked cables from the early 2000s show how ministers scrapped plans to rescue a warship understood to be HMS Sussex in case it would threaten relations with Spain, despite the UK owning the wreck. HMS Sussex was a Royal Navy flagship lost off Gibraltar more than three centuries ago. It is believed the wreck sits in international waters to the east of Gibraltar, which Britain could claim under international maritime law. The warship sank in a storm in 1694 while carrying up to 10 tons of gold, records suggested, which would amount to £5.5billion today - making it the most lucrative shipwreck discovered. In 2001, Odyssey Marine Exploration, the US deep sea exploration company, said it was '99 per cent' sure it had found the ship after a three-year search. The UK government signed an agreement with the company in September 2002, agreeing to recover the wreck and for the sale of treasure to be split. News of the contract sparked furore and incited diplomatic tensions with Spain, which said it owned the ship due to its position in claimed Spanish waters. It emerged through once confidential diplomatic cables from the US that UK officials said the dispute was causing 'an unnecessary threat' to British-Spanish relations.  In the documents, released by Wikileaks, Dame Denise Holt, then deputy head of mission at the British embassy in Madrid, said officials would seek to 'terminate' the contract with Odyssey. She added in June 2007 the 'controversy' made the British embassy 'distance themselves as much as possible from Odyssey', and was also impacting 'Gibraltar issues'. The Florida-based Odyssey would also, she said, lose British 'aid' when their ships sailed from the port of Gibraltar, where they were moored. Meanwhile Carmen Calvo, Spain's culture minister, said in a separate cable dated November 2005 that Odyssey would look for HMS Sussex 'over her dead body'.