Thieves in Spain have raided the Treasure of Villena – a stunning collection of bronze age gold artefacts that has been described as the most important prehistoric trove in Europe – in the latest high-profile smash-and-grab heist on the continent.

Axar.az reports, citing The Guardian, that the raid on Thursday morning of the 66 mostly gold objects in the Spanish town of Villena lasted just minutes, officials said.

“The alarm at the Villena Museum went off around 5.20 am,” a spokesperson for the town council said, adding that the thieves had left the building by 5.24 am. The operation was “super-fast and super-professional”, the spokesperson said.

“They’ve taken most of the treasure,” the mayor of Villena, Fulgencio Cerdán, told journalists, his voice breaking.

Local media said the few items the thieves had left behind included three silver vessels, a bracelet and some of the ornamentation of the bastón del reyezuelo, the “Kingfisher staff”, a prehistoric ceremonial scepter.