Thieves rob museum of paintings worth US$2m
Source: Agencies |
November 13, 2012, Tuesday
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THIEVES posing as eager art students with their teacher stole more than US$2 million worth of paintings from a museum in South Africa's capital in a daring armed robbery, authorities said yesterday.
The theft on Sunday at the Pretoria Art Museum saw robbers calmly pay US$2.25 apiece for tickets and ask a curator to show them specific paintings at the gallery before they pulled out pistols and forced all others to the ground, officials said. They tied up the curator and others before collecting the paintings they previously asked about, official said.
The robbers favored oil paintings in their theft, grabbing a 1931 painting by famous South African artist Irma Stern of brightly colored sailboats waiting against a pier, city spokesman Pieter de Necker said.
Other works stolen included a gouache drawing of an eland and bird by South African landscape artist J.H. Pierneef, a pastel-toned street scene by Gerard Sekoto, a thick-stroked oil painting of a chief by Hugo Naude and a picture of a cat near a vase full of petunias by Maggie Laubser.
The robbers, though apparently having done their homework, left behind another oil painting by Stern showing two musicians because they were not able to fit the painting inside their getaway car, a silver sedan, de Necker said. The thieves left as private security guards at the museum drew close to them, he said.
The museum closed yesterday for the week and removed its most valuable remaining possessions for safekeeping, the city spokesman said. Authorities say they now plan to increase security to prevent thefts there. However, the video surveillance cameras at the museum had stopped working on Thursday, de Necker said.
The theft on Sunday at the Pretoria Art Museum saw robbers calmly pay US$2.25 apiece for tickets and ask a curator to show them specific paintings at the gallery before they pulled out pistols and forced all others to the ground, officials said. They tied up the curator and others before collecting the paintings they previously asked about, official said.
The robbers favored oil paintings in their theft, grabbing a 1931 painting by famous South African artist Irma Stern of brightly colored sailboats waiting against a pier, city spokesman Pieter de Necker said.
Other works stolen included a gouache drawing of an eland and bird by South African landscape artist J.H. Pierneef, a pastel-toned street scene by Gerard Sekoto, a thick-stroked oil painting of a chief by Hugo Naude and a picture of a cat near a vase full of petunias by Maggie Laubser.
The robbers, though apparently having done their homework, left behind another oil painting by Stern showing two musicians because they were not able to fit the painting inside their getaway car, a silver sedan, de Necker said. The thieves left as private security guards at the museum drew close to them, he said.
The museum closed yesterday for the week and removed its most valuable remaining possessions for safekeeping, the city spokesman said. Authorities say they now plan to increase security to prevent thefts there. However, the video surveillance cameras at the museum had stopped working on Thursday, de Necker said.
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