Italian authorities have released footage of a dramatic art theft which happened in less than three minutes.
CCTV footage from a security camera in the Magnani-Rocca Foundation’s private museum near Parma on the night of March 22 showed the gang of three break through a window.
Two of the men then sprinted to the artworks by iconic artists Cezanne, Matisse and Renoir, worth €9 million (£7.7million) in total.
Italian police on Friday announced they had arrested five suspects and recovered the artworks.
They paintings were hidden in the storeroom of a house in Parma, placed in a cardboard box once used for a flat-screen TV.
“They were professionals, but we were better,” an Italian authority told The Times.
The five suspects, all Moldovan, are accused of stealing Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s Fish, worth €3million, Paul Cézanne’s Cup and a Plate of Cherries, worth €6million, and a print of Odalisque on the Terrace by Henri Matisse, worth €20,000.
The stunning footage has raised questions over the security of the three valuable artworks – no sirens blared and alarms did not seem to be activated.
An investigative source said: “They used a jammer to disable the alarm, and the further they got from the villa as they fled the scene, the weaker the effect of the jammer became and the alarm kicked in.”
The gang of five quickly fled the museum, but left behind a fire extinguisher and a broken pickaxe used to smash the window.
Both items were key to tracing the gang.
Although the fire extinguisher had its serial numbers scraped off, it was traced to a building one of the men had access to, prosecutors said.
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Fondazione Magnani Rocca
And the pickaxe was traced back to the shop that sold it.
Police believe the gang are part of a larger organised crime group responsible for numerous thefts and robberies – in one instance driving a vehicle through a supermarket’s front window.
Stolen goods, worth thousands of pounds, were also recovered by the police as the men were apprehended.
Experts have questioned how the gang expected to sell the paintings – a simple internet search would have revealed they were stolen.
“This group were accomplished burglars but not art thieves, yet they still decided to steal the paintings,” a second investigative source said.
“That is why they didn’t know how to place them, and why the works were still stashed in Parma.”
The Magnani-Rocca museum was set up by Luigi Magnani, an art historian, in 1977 – the organisation said it was determined to get the paintings back on display to the public.
Stefano Roffi, a director at the museum, said it was a “happy day”, admitting the theft made staff “speechless”.
“The best way to respond to those who steal beauty is to come and see it, to talk about it, to share it. The Magnani-Rocca is open,” the museum said.
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