The heist only lasted for seven minutes, and the lack of alarm meant that the response time to the incident was slow. On Sunday, the thieves had purposefully set off the alarm numerous times so that it was not set off when the actual heist occurred on Monday. A 1939 work by Picasso called ‘Women’s Head’ was stolen, as was a work by Piet Mondrian called ‘Mill.’ An additional painting they tried to steal was discarded as they fled the scene.

A spokesperson from the police has commented on the incident, “These thieves were experts and they had clearly been planning this heist for a long time. Everything about it was well calculated and well executed.” The police spokesman also confirmed that Interpol had been notified and anti-art theft experts are working to recover the arts and return them to their rightful owners.

Over the past few years, Greece has been putting greater pressure on art thieves by working with Italy to crack down on people who are trading in the stolen art market. Previously, both countries had problems with antiquities thieves and tomb raiders and there was not enough protection in place to protect these valuable artefacts.

This recent theft is sure to be something that the Greek authorities working in the anti-art theft world would have preferred to have avoided.

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A police spokesperson, Steve Whitmore, said that the hotel’s security was top notch and it appeared to be a very well thought out plan that was executed to perfection. But he wanted to make a point that it was not to say the theft was all that elaborate, instead it seems that is was part of an old classic heist method of – hey what’s that over there?”

The thief was able to walk away from the exhibition with the artwork when their accomplices were able to distract the curator of the exhibition by pretending to be a possible buyer of one of the pieces on exhibition. While the curator’s attention was diverted from the rest of the exhibition the artwork was lifted and when he turned around it was no longer there.

The artwork, called The Judgment, is pen and ink and is thought to have been produced circa1665 and is about 6 x 10 inches and roughly valued at around £154,000. It is thought to be one of only 700 drawings around today that experts have agreed was drawn by Rembrandt.

A news report says that Rembrandts are one of art thieves’ most popular targets according to many art experts and are second only to artwork of Picasso, and that is due to the name recognition with the artist. In the last century there have been over 80 thefts, that have been documented, of Rembrandt’s work.

The majority of the works were recovered and it probably will happen again with this artwork as it will be very hard to sell the piece. The police tend to have the same opinion and are also saying that due to the footage they have seen of the surveillance video at the hotel.

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Tom Cremers is a security consultant to some of the world’s libraries, galleries and museums and he says that illicit trading of art is worth annually about £4.8 billion just third behind the trade of drugs and arms which are worth about £62 billion.

Cremers says it is never like in the movies saying he has never seen a case where thieves get commissioned by art collectors to steal artwork. The vast majority of cases involve long serving staff that work internally such as librarians or curators who have great knowledge of the work that has been commissioned for their museums and galleries.

And he also pointed out that besides what many believe, the security guards never do it. The majority of what is stolen is from private collections with only about 10% being stolen from museums because of heightened internal security measures making it much more difficult to steal.

More than 50% of the art stolen crosses over international borders with the thief’s motivation being the arts value since they may have no idea about it and do not even have a buyer in mind. Cremers consultants for many of the 1,200 galleries in museums in the Netherlands. Often thieves, after stealing the artwork cannot find a buyer and end up destroying what they cannot sell.

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The news comes as NATO has resumed its bombing campaign rumors surfaced from Tripoli that Gaddafi’s support was dwindling each day in the capital. Among the looted works was an 18^th century oil painting called Harrier Killing, a Bittern estimated to be £60,000 by Philip Reinagle. A landscape styled like Italian painter Salvatore Rosa was worth £35,000 and one entitled Mountainous Landscape with Travellers is also missing.

The total cost of the attack will be much higher than just the paintings but cannot be determined until British authorities have returned to Tripoli. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office would neither confirm nor deny if intelligence material was in the embassy during the raid. William Hague Foreign Secretary expelled Omar Jelban the Libyan ambassador in London after the attack on the building in Tripoli which had stood empty for weeks.

An increased sense of complete chaos could be felt in Tripoli as petrol prices escalated and food shortages were being predicted and is said to be the force behind people not being worried about talking out. One businessman said that 95% of the people want Gaddafi to leave not just because of his politics but because many just want to return to normal lives.

A shop owner said that most want him gone and more are willing to talk about it now since he is under pressure and they do not feel threatened. But you still must remain guarded because if you are caught who knows what they would do to you.

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The prosecutors were prompted by the extent to which the alleged fraudster went in order to bestow feigned authenticity on the materials – the alleged fraudsters have even published books to support their claims.

In August 2009, the investigation lead to the finding of almost 1,000 fake sculptures along with their forged supporting documents, all claimed to be Giacometti’s. Soon, police uncovered another 150 sculptures.

According to the Stuttgart prosecutor’s office, more fake pieces remain uncovered. Notably, the prosecutors have pressed charges of selling fake pieces against the five defendants, but none were charged for producing the fakes. Who created these pieces is still an open question that the investigation is yet to find

Some believe the fakes were made in China, but prosecutors believe it is most likely to be in EU zone because of its open borders, which makes it easier for the pieces to travel unchecked across Europe.

The investigation is still ongoing, and the prosecutors believe that the fraudsters have handled fakes attributed to at least on other artist, based on the findings of the first investigation. They believe, however, that the production has now stopped where fake Giacometti’s are concerned.

The recovered fake sculptures are of poor quality, and would not have fooled any serious collector, according to experts who studied the seized sculptures. They believe that the buyers were most likely inexperienced people who had the notion of buying art work at a relatively low price.

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The painting was part of the art collection of Gianni Versace and was valued at about £60,000.  The designer did not know it was a stolen piece when he purchased it for his collection.  The Versace family was very cooperative once it was proved that it belonged to heirs of the late Major-General John Sheffield, who had the artwork stolen from above his mantelpiece.

When the Versaces were provided evidence that the painting was a treasured family heirloom, they made arrangements to settle everything out of court and the family is once again in possession of the piece.

Quite often, when situations like this arise within the art world there can be lengthy court battles that drag on for years over rightful ownership of the property and what the unsuspecting collector is entitled to be paid in the way of recovery.

In this instance, both parties decided that such wrangling was unwarranted and would only serve to enrich attorneys.  They decided that, instead of battling lawsuits, they would sit down and attempt to arrange an amicable solution.

While no one is giving details of what that amicable solution turned out to be, it is reported that both parties are pleased with the way things were settled.

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The Mahmoud Khalil museum reported last Saturday that the “Poppy Flowers” was cut out of its frame.

Police say they are taking all means possible and are controlling the air and sea ports in order to grab a hold of the criminal. They are also interrogating the museum staff and have mentioned that state prosecutors have done the same as well.
A police officer told reporters that the cameras and alarm have long been out of order. Museum officials told them that they were trying to canvass some spare parts but haven’t managed to do so.
Abdel Meguid Mahmud, the prosecutor general, confirmed the allegations that the security at the museum was lax. He even called them inadequate and a facade. He says that only seven out of the forty three cameras are working. Even more surprising is that each painting has its own alarm but not one of them is functioning.
Mahmud also reiterated the need to increase the security in properties in Cairo. Last March 2009, nine paintings were stolen from a museum in northern Cairo called Ali Pasha’s palace.
Two Italians were reported to have been arrested on charges of trying to smuggle the painting out but the report was quickly withdrawn as it was said to be a result of inaccurate information.

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The 60-year-old Salander was arrested on suspicion of grand larceny and fraud in March last year, and was indicted on at least 100 counts of various crimes including perjury, scheming to defraud and forgery as well as grand theft amounting to $88 million and possibly more.

The ‘noted art dealer’ with a highly rated gallery on Manhattan’s Upper East Side apparently began his nefarious schemes several years ago, according to prosecuting attorneys.  Salander was ‘in the habit’ of selling artwork that did not belong to him, and also selling the same item to more than one buyer.

During the final court proceedings on Tuesday, one after another of Salander’s victims rose to call for his conviction, and for a harsher sentence than that handed down by Justice Michael J. Obus.

Included among the number of those who suffered losses due to Salander’s criminal activities were such well-known public figures as tennis star John McEnroe and Robert De Niro Sr., father of the noted actor and an artist himself.

McEnroe said he had paid $162,500 to Salander and the Salander-O’Reilly Galleries that he expected them to use as investment in art that would be sold at a profit, but McEnroe himself never profited.  De Niro was one of several noted contemporary American artists whose work was sold by Salander as his own property.

Attorney for the defendant Charles A. Ross told the court that his client was genuinely repentant, and argued for a lesser sentence, but the victims seem to feel that Salander is sorry only because he got caught.

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A spokesman for the police stated that the works were reported missing from the Paris Museum of Modern Art and also included paintings by George Braque, Fernand Leger, and Amedeo Modigliani.

It was 7am when it was discovered that a window had been shattered and the padlock of a grille was smashed.  A review of the CCTV footage showed a person had entered through the window.

Investigators and police had closed off the museum, which is located across the River Seine directly opposite of the Eiffel Tower.

Le Monde reported that since the paintings are very well known it will be hard for the thief to sell them on the open market.  They also stated that in the past thefts of paintings were sold to private collectors.

A member of the museum staff stated that all questions regarding the theft could only be answered by the office of Bertrand Delanoe, the Paris mayor.

An investigation of the theft is underway by the France elite police unit, the Brigade de Repression du Banditisme.

In December of 2009 an Edgar Degas painting was stolen in Marseille during the night while on exhibition.

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Owner of Miriam Shiell Fine Art Gallery, Miriam Shiell, said that a man attempted to sell the statue on consignment at her Yorkville store a week ago which is valued at around $80,000.

However, when Shiell looked it up as part of a routine search on the Art Loss Register it was quickly clear to her that the statue was stolen from a museum in New York.

The recovery of the statue comes directly after a batch of stolen goods was recovered in Montreal at an art gallery when the owner realized he had a Paul Klee painting that was stolen.  Investigations are underway in both cities but authorities do not believe there is a connection between the two.

Henry Moore is known for his abstract large marble and bronze sculptures that are spread out around the globe in several cities.  One of his sculptures sits in Nathan Phillips Square named Archer and came at a large cost of $100,000 when it was commissioned in 1966.

Before Moore passed away, the artist donated 200 pieces of his work to the Ontario Art Gallery which are on view to the public at the Henry Moore Sculpture Centre in the Gallery.

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