[MSN] 3 minutes museum raid: Thieves in Brazil have stolen two paintings said to be worth $100m (£50m) in a dawn raid on Latin America's most renowned museum.

[Museum Security Network Mailing list]

Picasso stolen from Brazil museum 

Thieves in Brazil have stolen two paintings said to be worth $100m (£50m) in
a dawn raid on Latin America's most renowned museum. 

Police said Pablo Picasso's Portrait of Suzanne Bloch, and The Coffee Worker
by Brazil's Candido Portinari, were taken from the Museum of Art of Sao
Paulo. 

The operation, which lasted about three minutes, was caught on security
cameras, officials said. 

Police investigating the theft are due to give a news conference. 

Valuable pieces 

The theft, believed to have been carried out by three men, began at 0509
(0709 GMT) and finished at 0512, police said. 

The museum's security guards are thought to have been on another floor at
the time. 


The thieves left behind some of their tools, and police have shut down the
museum to search for clues, officials said. 

The Portrait of Suzanne Bloch, painted in 1904, is among the most valuable
pieces in the museum's collection. 

The Coffee Worker (O Lavrador de Cafe) was painted in 1939 and is one of
Portinari's most famous works. 

O Globo newspaper said that the museum's press service had estimated their
joint worth at more than $100m. 

However, museum spokesman Eduardo Cosomano told the Associated Press news
agency that it was difficult to judge their exact monetary value. 

Thieves have targeted Brazil's museums before. In February 2006, a five-man
gang stole works by Salvador Dali, Henri Matisse, Picasso and Claude Monet
from a Rio de Janeiro museum. 

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/americas/7154101.stm

Published: 2007/12/20 15:57:39 GMT