[CPProt.net] Thieves steal fake Munch artworks

[MSN CPPnet (Ton Cremers)]

 Thieves steal fake Munch artworks 
August 4, 2005

Masked thieves in Norway have stolen what they thought were three Edvard
Munch paintings - but they turned out to be worthless copies. 
Two unarmed men burst into Oslo's Hotel Continental, threatened staff and
removed three pictures from the walls. 

But the hotel had swapped the originals with duplicates after two real Munch
works were stolen from the Munch Museum in the city almost a year ago. 

"It's a real fiasco for the thieves," hotel manager Siv Lunde Kolrud said. 

The hotel's art collection includes 12 Munch originals, which were "in a
very safe place", Ms Lunde Kolrud said. 


 These are amateurs - they made a fool out of themselves 
Vidar Hjulstad 
Oslo police  

The pictures stolen on Wednesday were actually photographs of The Vampire,
Self-Portrait and Melancholy, she said, adding that the frames were the only
things of value. 

The men who raided the Munch Museum last August are not suspected of
carrying out this theft, police spokesman Vidar Hjulstad said. 

"They are not like the thieves from the real Munch Museum, these are
amateurs," he said. "They made a fool out of themselves." 

An abandoned getaway car was found about a kilometre (0.6 miles) away. 

After the theft last August, security was stepped up and five arrests have
been made. 

But The Scream and Madonna have not been found and the Munch Museum remained
closed until last month. 

In March, three lesser Munch works were taken from another hotel but were
recovered the following day. 


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4741683.stm