Thieves nab four Renaissance paintings worth $90M from Italian gallery

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Jesse James
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How does this happen?

Art thieves in Sicily walked off with FOUR centuries-old masterpiece paintings worth an estimated $90 million.

Four historic paintings, then two more they abandoned, and the authorities have no clue who did it.

Here's the BBC:

Alessandro Giuli confirmed that three panels of the Polyptych of San Gregorio and a double-sided panel of the Madonna with Child and Christ in Pietà, all attributed to Antonello da Messina, were taken [from] Regional Interdisciplinary Museum of Messina on Saturday night.

Police are now probing how the thieves were able to enter the museum without triggering its alarms and who may have been responsible.

The incident is the latest in a string of museum heists across Europe that have led to a growing number of priceless works disappearing from public view.

Sounds like a real Pink Panther case if you ask me!

The authorities suspect that this wasn't just a random hit on a museum.

It's much more likely, according to the Italian cops, that a black market buyer wanted these specific pieces.

Investigators are working on the initial suspicion that the paintings were stolen to order by black market art thieves, according to Italian news agency Ansa.

It reported that the Madonna and Christ in Pietà - which was briefly shown at the British Museum in 2016 - was removed directly from inside a secure display case, while all the paintings taken were on wooden panels, preventing them from easily being rolled up.

The museum's director Marisa Mercurio said the theft was thought to have occurred around 21:50 local time (19:50 GMT) on Saturday.

Much like the Louvre heist last year, police have no suspects.


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