Posted on 03/08/2005 1:34:51 AM PST by franksolich
Police raid recovers stolen Munch artd
Eight young men and a woman were in custody on Tuesday, suspected of stealing two lithographs and a watercolour by famed Norwegian artist Edvard Munch from a luxury hotel just 20 hours earlier. The stolen artwork was also in the hands of police, seized after a dramatic raid in Oslo Monday night.
Quick police action and tips from neighbors led to the raid on a flat in Oslo's Kampen district. Several of the nine persons arrested have police records, mostly involving robberies of mobile telephones and local stores.
Police stressed to newspaper Aftenposten that none of those in custody are known as hardened criminals. Rather, police believe they were acting on behalf of others, who had ordered the theft from the Refsnes Gods hotel at Jeløy, south of Oslo.
The raid came after residents of Kampen reacted to a howling car alarm in the area and spotted several people lugging what looked like paintings into an apartment building on Hølandgaaten around midnight on Sunday. That would have been just a few hours after the art was snatched from the hotel, which is about a 90-minute drive from Oslo.
Police thus kept the neighborhood under surveillance on Monday, and swooped in Monday night. Several of the suspects were apprehended after a short car chase.
The stolen Munch art was found in connection with the raid, and remained in police custody on Tuesday. It was unclear whether the art had been damaged during the robbery.
Police said it was too early to say whether there were any ties between the robbery of the three Munch works and the dramatic daytime robbery of the Munch Museum last August. Both the Munch masterpiece Skrik and the famed oil painting Madonna were stolen in that heist. Neither have been recovered.
Thank goodness. How do you sell unique works of arts without being caught? Even if a private collector hired a thief, there can't be that many collectors with that kind of money.
If I had a Hans Holbein, I would wish to have it out there for all to see.
Look Ma, No Hans!...........
Glad to see you got to posting pictures!
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