Art Hostage Services
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The Art Hostage team undertakes a wide range of services, including due diligence, collection conservation and management, risk assessment and security as well as legal issues, recovery and dispute resolution involving art and artifacts. Through partnerships with leading organizations, the Art Hostage team can provide a complete service for all aspects of collecting and protecting art.
Gang in court over £5m antique thefts from North Yorkshire stately homes
A GANG has admitted conspiring to handle historically important
antiques worth £5m which were stolen from country estates, including two
in North Yorkshire.
Carl Rutter, 46, of Silcoates St, Wakefield, West Yorkshire, who appeared in court
today, was described by officers as a "significant conspirator", the
Yorkshire and Humber Regional Organised Crime Unit said.
He pleaded guilty at Leeds Crown Court to conspiring to handle the
items and will be sentenced with two other men in about four weeks, the
unit added.
The valuables, reported stolen from Newby Hall, near Ripon, Sion Hill, near Thirsk
and Firle Place in Sussex, included a pair of Louis XVI vases valued at
almost £1m and a Chippendale table worth around £500,000, according to
officers.
The internationally important twin-leaf Pembroke table was taken from
Newby Hall in 2007. It was commissioned by estate owner Richard
Compton's ancestor, William Weddell, in 1775.
Darren Webster, 45, of Burnshaw Mews, Leeds, and Brian Eaton, 69, of Chapel Road, Tankersley, Barnsley,
appeared in court in August 2012 charged with the same offences as Rutter.
Both pleaded guilty but have been awaiting sentence subject to the
outcome of Rutter's case.
A total of 14 items were recovered from Eaton and Webster's homes. All have now been returned to the estates.
A Crime Unit spokesman said: "Rutter had overall possession of a
number of the stolen antiques which had been stored on his behalf with a
view to being sold later.
"Both Eaton and Webster also had possession of a large number of the antiques, some stored at Eaton's home address.
"Webster was described by officers as the lead conspirator while Eaton
was responsible for introducing prospective buyers of the antiques to
Webster and Rutter.
"The valuables, known to be of significant and cultural historic value
and worth a total of £5m, were recovered by officers from the Yorkshire
and Humber Regional Organised Crime Unit on September 22, 2011.
"It marked the culmination of a year-long investigation."
Detective Superintendent Steve Waite, head of regional intelligence,
said: "We were immensely pleased and proud back in September 2011 to
have recovered these high value antiques which were described as true
pieces of British heritage.
"Today's plea brings this absolutely fantastic case one step closer to
its conclusion. It's a great result for both the officers involved and
the stately homes that were affected by these thefts."
Backstory:
National Trust member jailed after stealing £1.2million of antiques from stately homes
Lack of sophistication: Stately home burglar Graham Harkin used the pseudonym Graham Parkin
Grey-haired and bespectacled, he didn’t exactly stand out in the groups taking guided tours of various stately homes.
But
there was one thing that set National Trust member Geoffrey Harkin
apart from his fellow sightseers examining the treasures on show.
The 58-year-old grandfather would later return to the grand properties – and burgle them.
In total, he stole antiques worth more than £1.2million from mansions across the country. The items have never been recovered.
His
targets included Firle Place near Lewes, East Sussex, where he stole
nationally important Sevres porcelain worth more than £1million in a
burglary that was to feature on Crimewatch.
A pair of identical vases made in 1763 and a Hollandaise Nouveau vase were among the pieces taken in July 2009.
At Longnor Hall in Shropshire he stole antiques worth more than £27,000.
And he took a £200,000 clock by Thomas Tompion – who lived from 1639
to 1713 and is regarded as the father of English clockmaking – from
Levens Hall, near Kendal in Cumbria.
It was the clock that was to be his undoing. Using a false name, he
later told the owners he would give it to them in return for an
advertised £20,000 reward, and £5,000 for himself, as long as they did
not tell the police.
Sting: Mr Harkin was caught with a
300-year-old Thomas Tompion clock, above, worth £200,000 and stolen from
Levens Hall, near Kendal, Cumbria, above
But when he
arrived at Birch Services on the M62 near Manchester for the handover,
he found that the owners had tipped off the police.
Officers found the clock in the boot of his BMW, along with
his phone, which when examined was used to place him at the locations of
the other burglaries when they were committed.
He also had on him
his National Trust membership card – ‘an essential bit of kit for a
country house burglar’, Tim Evans, prosecuting, told Carlisle Crown
Court yesterday.
Gone: One of two identical porcelain vases taken in the £1 million burglary on the home of Lord Gage
The burglar, full name Graham Geoffrey Harkin, from Wakefield, West
Yorkshire, was jailed for nine years. After his arrest for the clock
burglary, police scoured CCTV from the other stately homes and found
footage of Harkin on guided tours of each of them in the weeks before
the thefts.
Mr Evans told the court: ‘Mr Harkin is a
professional country house burglar. There is nothing at all charming or
entertaining about these crimes. They are not like the books featuring
Raffles [the gentleman thief in the stories by E W Hornung].
‘These were precious, irreplaceable antiques. It represents the looting of the history and heritage of this country for profit.
‘There is no indication of the whereabouts of any of these items. It remains a mystery.’
Judge
Peter Hughes, QC, gave Harkin concurrent sentences of nine years for
the Firle Place burglary, seven years for the Longnor Hall burglary and
five years for handling the Tompion clock. The court was told he had 18
previous convictions, mainly for theft and dishonesty.
His
associate Gary Swindell, 58, was jailed for three years after the jury
found him guilty of handling stolen goods. Swindell, from Bradford, sold
11 items Harkin stole from Longnor Hall in Shropshire, worth £7,700, at
a car boot sale in York.
Judge Hughes told Harkin: ‘That
superb collection of porcelain has been lost. Over £1million worth that
had been passed down through generations is unaccounted for and is
unlikely to ever be put back together again.
Target: Harkin received a nine year sentence for the thefts from Firie Place in East Sussex in 2009
‘One of the finest bracket clocks in the country made by Thomas
Tompion was recovered only because you tried to claim a reward on it.’
Lord
Henry Gage, whose father Viscount Gage, 75, owns Firle Place, said: ‘We
thought it was like Fort Knox, but the burglar knew what he was doing.
The collection we thought was completely safe has been impaired. The
items were of national importance.’
Burglar Graham Harkin has appeal turned down
Harkin would visit country houses looking for high value items
A burglar who targeted country houses in Cumbria, Sussex and Shropshire has had an appeal against his sentence turned down.
Graham Harkin was jailed for nine years in March 2011 after admitting the theft of antiques worth more than £1.2m.
The 59-year-old from West Yorkshire was caught when he tried to claim a reward for a stolen clock.
Mr Justice Parker told London's Criminal Appeal Court the sentence was "not manifestly excessive".
The court was told Harkin, from Chestnut Walk in Wakefield,
had pleaded guilty to two burglaries and one count of handling stolen
goods.
The National Trust member had taken a nationally important
collection of porcelain from Firle Place in East Sussex which has never
been recovered. He also stole porcelain valued at £27,000 from Longnor
Hall near Shrewsbury in Shropshire.
He was arrested after meeting undercover police officers at
services on the M62 near Rochdale in Greater Manchester to claim a
£20,000 reward for a Thomas Tompion clock valued at £200,000 which had
been stolen from Levens Hall near Kendal in Cumbria.
Dismissing the appeal, Judge Parker said Harker had deliberately targeted high value items.
"He did guided tours first, posing as an ordinary visitor.
These items were cherished not just by their owners, but by members of
the public.
"He could have given police information that would have led
to the recovery of the stolen items, but he chose not to do so. He was
playing for high stakes and he lost," he said.
Court hears Levens Hall clock theft man made £600,000 from targeting historic houses
http://www.thewestmorlandgazette.co.uk/news/9932548.Court_hears_Levens_Hall_clock_theft_man_made___600_000_from_targeting_historic_houses/
A CAREER criminal involved in the theft of a nationally important
antique clock from Levens Hall made £600,000 by targeting that and some
of England’s other most historic houses, a court has heard.
Graham Geoffrey Harkin, 59, joined a tour of the stately home so he could decide which items should be stolen.
A few days later, on September 19, 2009, accomplices broke into the
house and stole several antique pieces, including a 300-year-old clock,
made by Thomas Tompion.
Harkin might have got away with it, Carlisle Crown Court heard, if he
had not contacted Levens owner Hal Bagot, saying he could recover the
clock for a £25,000 reward.
As a result police set up a ‘sting’ in which Harkin was arrested.
And then they discovered he had been responsible for burglaries and thefts in other parts of the country too.
Last year Harkin was jailed for nine years after pleading guilty to
burgling two historic houses — Longner Hall in Shropshire, and Firle
Place, a country estate in Sussex, from which he took
porcelain worth about £1 million — and handling the clock stolen from
Levens Hall.
Two other charges — burgling a National Trust property in Cornwall and
stealing a £50,000 sundial from Dalemain House, near Penrith — were
left lying on the court file and were not proceeded with.
Harkin. of Chestnut Walk, Wakefield, Yorkshire, was back at Carlisle
Crown Court on Friday for a hearing under the Proceeds of Crime Act.
He admitted making £600,000 from his crimes but the judge accepted
that he could be made to pay back only £10,000 of his profits, since his
only realisable asset is a £10,000 share of the house he
co-owns with his wife.
Nearly £6,000 of that will have to go to paying off another Proceeds
of Crime order made after a series of similar crimes in West Yorkshire.
If he fails to pay within six months he will go to prison for an extra four months.
Art Hostage Comments:
News from sources on both sides of the divide, Law Enforcement and the Art Crime Underworld, come revelations that Graham Harkin, the prolific burglar serving nine years in jail these high value country house thefts, mentioned above, was threatened with an extra Ten years in jail and a benefit figure of £5 million attached in a confiscation hearing under the 2002 Proceeds of Crime Act P.O.C.A.
With a metaphorical gun to his head Graham Harkin gave up Rutter, Webster and Eaton to save himself and now serves the rest of the four and a half years in jail, of his nine year jail sentence from the comfort of a D-Category Open Jail.
However, Police and prosecutors reneged on the deal agreed and Graham Harking lost his appeal against sentence a month after the art and antiques were recovered and the arrests made.
Mind you, Prosecutors did go easy on Graham Harkin at the Proceeds of Crime Act hearing and he was ordered to only pay back £10,000 or face four months more jail-time, as a result of his giving up the so-called Mr Big's and the recovery of the stolen art and antiques.
Stolen artworks from Picasso, Money and Matisse may now just be ashes
INVESTIGATORS are analysing ashes
found in the house of a suspect charged for the Dutch museum heist amid
fears the seven artworks have been burnt.
"Tests are underway, they will take some time," Gabriela Neagu, a spokeswoman for the Romanian prosecutor's office, told AFP.
"The ash tests are a stage in the ongoing probe, investigators have to take every hypothesis into account", she added.
Investigators
fear that the suspects may have set fire to their haul after realising
that they could not sell the paintings, which included works by Pablo
Picasso, Claude Monet and Henri Matisse.
The ashes were taken from
the house of Olga Dogaru, mother of one of the suspects and herself
charged with "complicity to theft."
Her son's lawyer, Doina Lupu, said the tests "were inconclusive" so far.
Ms Dogaru was arrested in March after her house in eastern Romania
was thoroughly searched. An empty suitcase which had presumably served
to store the stolen paintings was unearthed during the operation.
Seven
Romanians, including Ms Dogaru, have been charged in connection with
the theft of the paintings from Rotterdam's Kunsthal museum on October
16.
Experts have estimated their value at more than 100 million euros ($133 million).
The
heist gripped the Netherlands and the art world as police struggled to
solve the crime, despite putting 25 officers on the case.
The works stolen include Picasso's Tete d'Arlequin, Monet's Waterloo Bridge and Lucian Freud's Woman with Eyes Closed.
An empty space left by a painting from French artist Henri Matisse that was stolen at the Kunsthal museum in Rotterdam.
Art Hostage Comments:
I hope those who took the supposed moral high ground and demanded no reward offer, no fee offer for the recovery of these stolen artworks are happy with themselves upon hearing this news.
Thieves have stolen art for thousands of years and will continue to do so and the best form of defense is security that means the possibility of theft is diminished.
By being rigid in not allowing any fees or rewards to be paid provokes this kind of action.
Looks like the insurance company has taken a hit to the tune of tens of millions and the public are denied the chance to admire these artworks, not to forget the Triton Foundation losing some of its most coveted artworks.
The fee charged by The Art Loss Register looks very cheap now in light of this news, so getting Chris Marinello on board from the start could, should and would have prevented this. By being so cheap, so mean-spirited and tight fisted, the net result could prove to be the loss of these iconic artworks forever !!
Still, perhaps a few outcomes of this kind will provoke the insurance industry to call for ever increased security and perhaps the loosening of monies being paid for the recovery of stolen art?
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Sadly, the message this sends is
"When in doubt about realizing on stolen art..... destroy"
Fitzwilliam Chinese art theft: Man found not guilty
A man charged in connection with the theft of Chinese art worth millions of pounds from a museum has been cleared.
Thomas Kiely, 21, of Giraud Street in Tower Hamlets, London,
was found not guilty of conspiracy to commit burglary by a jury at
Cambridge Crown Court.
The 18 artworks were stolen from the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge last April and have still not been traced.
Four men were sentenced over the burglary in September.
Mr Kiely was acquitted of the charge on Friday.
Police have since renewed their appeal for information
regarding the whereabouts of the missing items - mainly jade artefacts
from the Ming and Qing dynasties.
Det Insp Becky Tipping, of Cambridgeshire Police, said:
"Sadly the items, which are of huge cultural significance, have still
not been traced but we still have a team of detectives working to trace
[them].
"The museum would dearly love to secure the return of these
artefacts and there is a reward on offer to anyone who has information
which leads to their recovery."
Fresh appeal for priceless Cambridge museum objects
Detectives have launched a
fresh appeal for information in a bid to recover priceless Chinese
artefacts stolen from a Cambridge museum.
Eighteen Chinese artefacts Ming and Qing dynasties
were taken by a gang of burglars from the Fitzwilliam Museum on April
13, last year.
Three people have each been jailed for six years
for their roles in the burglary, a teenage boy was also locked up after
admitting burglary.
A substantial reward has been issued by the loss adjusters, for information which leads to the recovery of the stolen property.
Detective
Inspector Becky Tipping said: “Sadly the items, which are of huge
cultural significance, have still not been traced but we still have a
team of detectives working to trace those items and would urge anyone
with information to call police.
“The museum would dearly love to
secure the return of these artefacts and there is a reward on offer to
anyone who has information which leads to their recovery.”
The loss adjusters have issued a “substantial” reward for information which leads to the recovery of the stolen property.
Art Hostage Comments:
Anyone attempting to offer information that leads to the
recovery of these Chinese Jade artworks will come under scrutiny, 24/7
surveillance, and ultimately arrest. There is no reward on offer just a
bogus offer of a "Substantial reward", meaning a token gesture, a few
hundred pounds, maybe a couple of thousand pounds, if the person
stepping forward sets up, goes along with a sting operation to entrap
and expose themselves to a violent blow-back from those who will end up
arrested. The only thing that awaits anyone who tries to offer
information is, arrest, criminal charges, conviction and jail time.
Therefore the only conclusion is to contact Art Hostage for the only
legal, legitimate pathway forward.
There can be no innocent explanation for why a London man was
captured on CCTV in Cambridge with the conspirators behind a £15 million
raid on the Fitzwilliam Museum, a jury was told.
Thomas Kiely,
21, is on trial at Cambridge Crown Court accused of being involved in
the successful plot to steal Chinese artefacts, including Ming dynasty
jade, from the Cambridge University museum on April 13 last year.
Three
men, including Kiely’s brother, admitted their part in the raid last
year, while 15-year-old Marvin Simos pleaded guilty to burglary.
Charles
Myatt, prosecuting, said the defendant was seen on CCTV with those men
near the museum on a reconnaissance mission the day before the raid.
Mr Myatt said: “It’s the Crown’s case that there can be no innocent explanation for his presence on that day.
“The
people he is with are clearly taking great pains in planning a
sophisticated burglary. They are far away from home and going back and
forth into the museum.”
He added: “Why bring Thomas Kiely along if
he has got nothing to do with it? The only reasonable explanation of
him being there is because he was playing his part.”
Mr Myatt
added it could not be a coincidence that the van used in the burglary
was stolen “just literally around the corner” from where Kiely lived in
Giraud Street, Tower Hamlets, on April 7, minutes before “relevant
mobile phone traffic” between a phone he used and conspirators.
He added the words “Ming”, “Cambridge and “fizzywilliam” had been typed into an iPad Kiely had in his possession.
None
of the items, which are valued at between £5-15 million, have been
recovered and they may well be in the hands of “unscrupulous” private
collectors in China, the court heard.
In a statement made to
police, which was read to the court, Kiely said he had family in the
Cambridge area. He denies conspiracy to commit burglary. The trial
continues.
Fitzwilliam Museum burglary accused 'spoke to plotters'
A man accused of conspiring to commit the £15m Fitzwilliam Museum
raid was in phone contact hundreds of times with one of the plotters
around the time of the crime.
A phone used by Thomas Kiely was in
contact with a mobile attributed to his brother, Patrick, 385 times
between March 26 and April 18, Cambridge Crown Court heard yesterday.
The
court heard that the mobile used by, but not belonging to, Thomas Kiely
was also in contact with a phone attributed to Fitzwilliam conspirator
Robert Smith on more than 35 occasions between March 16 and the day
after the April 13 raid.
Smith, Patrick Kiely and Steven Coughlan
were each sentenced to six years in prison in September after admitting
conspiracy to burgle. Marvin Simos had admitted burglary and was
sentenced to a four-month detention and training order.
Chinese artefacts valued at between £5m and £15m were taken in the raid.
Charles
Myatt, prosecuting, yesterday showed the jury CCTV of Kiely walking
past The Fitzwilliam on April 12 while his brother, Coughlan and Smith
were inside.
Kiely was also captured on CCTV with Smith in Lensfield Road that afternoon.
Mr Myatt said: “There is no evidence or CCTV footage showing Thomas Kiely at any stage anywhere other than on public streets.”
He told the jury on Monday the Crown’s case was that there can be no innocent explanation for Kiely’s presence.
The
court heard the van used in the raid had been stolen on April 7 from
the outside a Londis store close to Kiely’s home in Giraud Street, Tower
Hamlets.
Kiely had said in a statement prepared for a police
interview that he had been at home on April 13 and this could be checked
using CCTV.
The court heard the footage in question was only kept for 28 days and had been deleted.
Kiely denies conspiracy to commit burglary. The trial continues.
£15m Fitzwilliam Museum heist was "out of my league"
A convicted thief has denied playing any part in the £15 million
Fitzwilliam Museum heist, telling a jury it was “out of my league”.
Giving
evidence at his trial, Thomas Kiely, a traveller who lives in London,
said he merely tagged along for the ride because he was bored when his
brother Patrick and two other conspirators decided to go on a
reconnaissance mission to Cambridge the day before the raid on April 13
last year.
The 21-year-old admitted he was an “opportunistic
thief”, whose previous convictions include burglary and aggravated
vehicle taking, but added he was a “dumb blond” and thought the
Cambridge University museum was a castle when he walked past it to find a
McDonald’s.
He said he knew nothing of the plot and added: “It’s a bit out of my league, you can tell by my previous convictions.”
The
prosecution says Kiely stole a van for the raid as it sat yards away
from the home he shared with his girlfriend Grace in Giraud Street,
Tower Hamlets, on April 7. Kiely told the court it would be “a bit
silly” to rob a van outside his local shop which he visits every
morning.
The father-of-one said his brother only told him he would
be meeting someone in Cambridge and asked no further questions because
it was not his business.
Charles Myatt, cross-examining at
Cambridge Crown Court, told Kiely: “You became involved when you stole
that caddy van from just around the corner from where Grace lived. You
knew why they wanted the van because it would be used in the burglary
the following week.”
He added Kiely was in Cambridge to help with the “final stages of planning”, an accusation Kiely denied.
His
brother Patrick Kiely, Steven Coughlan, both of Tower Hamlets, and
Robert Smith, of Swanley, Kent, were jailed for six years each for their
role in the burglary, while Marvin Simos, who was 15 at the time of the
burglary, was given a four-month detention and training order.
None
of the items, which detectives believe were stolen to order, have been
recovered. The most popular theory is they are back in China in the
hands of private collectors. Kiely denies conspiracy to commit burglary.
The trial continues.
Art Hostage Comments: Memo to Helena Kiely
Don't listen to those who may try to entrap you, sweet talk you, or offer false promises of rewards, better conditions in jail for the boys etc. Contact Art Hostage for details on how to negotiate a way through this minefield of double dealing, duplicitous false offers, that are Chinese whispers about Chinese Jade.
Forget the Bulgarian Traveller connection as this will lead to arrests like with the fake Stradivarius violin undercover sting operation when old Hristo Varbanov was set up. Also the German clue is a dead end.
Anyone attempting to offer information that leads to the recovery of these Chinese Jade artworks will come under scrutiny, 24/7 surveillance, and ultimately arrest. There is no reward on offer just a bogus offer of a "Substantial reward", meaning a token gesture, a few hundred pounds, maybe a couple of thousand pounds, if the person stepping forward sets up, goes along with a sting operation to entrap and expose themselves to a violent blow-back from those who will end up arrested. The only thing that awaits anyone who tries to offer information is, arrest, criminal charges, conviction and jail time. Therefore the only conclusion is to contact Art Hostage for the only legal, legitimate pathway forward.
Ashmolean Cezanne/Oudry White Duck
Upon another note, the Cezanne stolen from the Ashmolean Museum on New
Years Eve 2000 (above) is in play again, as well as the Oudry White Duck taken
from Houghton Hall in 1992,(below) and again, as soon as either painting see's
the light of day, Police will swoop and arrests made, no reward will be
paid, you have been warned.
Second jewel theft strikes Cannes film festival
The necklace, modelled here, had been under tight security
A
necklace reportedly worth 1.9m euros (£1.6m) has been stolen during the
Cannes film festival, in the second such theft to hit this year's event.
The expensive piece by Swiss jeweller De Grisogono vanished
after a celebrity party at a five-star hotel in the resort town of Cap
d'Antibes.
The theft occurred despite "large security measures", including 80 security guards, the jeweller said.
Last week, thieves ripped a safe with jewels from the wall of a hotel room.
The latest robbery happened after an exclusive gala held at the exclusive Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc on Tuesday night.
The high-profile event celebrated De Grisogono's 20th
anniversary, and was attended by international movie stars like Sharon
Stone and Ornella Muti.
The jeweller house regularly loans its jewels to celebrities, including Paris Hilton and Cameron Diaz.
"It is actually the first time it has happened in our 20-year history," the company said in a statement.
It added that the theft occurred "despite the large security measures set in place: over 80 security guards plus police".
Last Friday, thieves stole jewels by Swiss jewellers Chopard from the Novotel hotel.
The precious goods were worth more than 770,000 euros.
Chopard is an official sponsor of the festival and also makes
its top award, the Palme d'Or. But the trophy was not among the stolen
items.
At least two apartments rented by film executives have also been burgled during the festival, according to the AFP news agency.
FIVE prisoners have made a dramatic
escape from a Swiss jail, using weapons passed from accomplices on the
outside to threaten guards and other inmates before scaling the prison
wall and disappearing, police say.
"There is an active manhunt for them, and they are listed as wanted
both at a national and an international level," police in the canton of
Vaud said in a statement.
The five men, one Frenchman, an
Albanian, a Bosnian, a Kosovar, as well as Serbian member of the "Pink
Panther" gang of international jewel thieves, took just five minutes to
get away, the investigators said.
Around 10.20am on Tuesday they
were in the walled in courtyard at the Bois-Mermet prison on the
outskirts of Lausanne with some 30 other inmates when three masked
accomplices on the outside climbed a ladder and threw a bag filled with
weapons and other items into the yard.
Grabbing the gun from the
bag, the five men threatened the other detainees and the guards and
sprayed them with some kind of irritant to keep them away as they used
pliers from the bag to cut a hole in the fence blocking their access to
the prison wall, which they then climbed using a ladder provided by
their accomplices, police said.
A sixth inmate tried to follow them, but guards managed to hold him back as he was climbing the ladder.
The escapees and their accomplices fled the scene in two vehicles.
Car used in Wafi City robbery on show at Dubai Police Museum
Police chief wants the public to view the car used in one of the most professional robberies in Dubai Police’s history.
Image Credit: Dubai Police
The
Pink Panther gang used this car during a high-profile robbery in Wafi
City mall in Dubai. It will be on display at the Dubai Police Museum.
Image Credit: Courtesy: Dubai Police
Dubai
police are displaying at the Dubai police museum the car used during
the armed robbery that happened at Wafi mall, this car used by the
robbers to hid the jewelries inside. The car was found later on in Al
Muraqabbat area. The jeweleries were kept in the right door of the car.
Dubai: Seven years after the daring armed robbery that took place at
Wafi City, Dubai Police are to display the car used by the gang at the
Dubai Police Museum.
Following the police’s purchase of the car from the rental company who
owned it, the Commander in Chief of Dubai Police, Lieutenant General
Dahi Khalfan Tamim, has given instructions to allow the local community
and museum-goers to view the car used in one of the most professional
robberies in Dubai Police’s history. The robbers belonged to the
notorious Pink Panther gang.
Fake jewellery, similar to the goods stolen, are displayed inside the car.
Brigadier Khalil Ebrahim Al Mansouri, Director of the Dubai Police
Criminal and Investigation Department (CID), said the robbers hid
jewellery worth millions of dirhams from Graff jewellers, one of the
most expensive outlets in Dubai, inside the car.
Brigadier Al Mansouri said the robbers, who fled the country, kept the
jewellery inside the rented car and parked it under a building in Al
Muraqqabat.
Brigadier Al Mansouri said the police suspected the car had been used
by the gang. He added what made police suspicious was the gang extended
the car rental and paid for it using credit card accounts abroad.
Unique pieces
He added the police mobilised 32 police patrols to monitor the car
round the clock. “A few weeks after the monitoring of the car, one of
the gang members who was sent back to Dubai by the gang to collect the
stolen jewellery was caught by police as he was trying to open the car,”
said Brigadier Al Mansouri.
He added that after arresting the suspect and searching the vehicle,
the police were unable to find any jewellery. However, with an
additional search and after dismantling parts of the car, they spotted
it.
Brigadier Al Mansouri said the jewellery had been hidden inside the car’s left front door.
“Any car that has been used in similar robberies will not have its
registration renewed and the car will not be used again. However, this
car has become one of the unique pieces kept on display at the Dubai
Police Museum to reflect the efforts of Dubai Police in arresting one of
the most dangerous and organised gangs in modern history,” he said.
The museum is located at Dubai Police Headquarters, Al Twar.
A Look Inside The Crimes Of The World’s Most Powerful Thieves
Clandestine societies have existed for centuries,
conducting their business behind the scenes of the public eye. One of
these societies is the Pink Panthers – a secret group of elite thieves
that originate from the Eastern European countries of Serbia, Montenegro
and Croatia.
The Pink Panthers are a gang of jewel thieves responsible for some of
the most glamorous armed robberies in history. Criminologists even
refer to their bold style and intricate planning as artistry. They have
targeted various countries, and have Japan’s most successful robbery on
their theft resume. Within a span of six years during the 21st century,
the Pink Panthers have burglarized 120 stores in twenty different
countries
In 1993, the gang gained prominence when they stole an $800,000
diamond from a jeweler in London. The name “Pink Panther” was awarded to
the thieves by Interpol after they hid the diamond in a jar of face
cream resembling an act from the film: “Return of the Pink Panther.”
Their attention to detail and efficient execution of their plans is the
reason behind their high success rate. For example, before a heist in
Biarritz, the gang coated a bench adjacent to the jewelry store in fresh
paint to deter people from sitting on – a clever way to keep away
potential witnesses to the heist.
Although the Pink Panthers are not only known for their successful
rate of robberies. They have also been notarized for their daring
break-ins as well as their creative escapes. For example, in St.
Tropez they burglarized a store dressed in flowery shirts and then
escaped on a speed boat. In another one high-profile heist, the gang
drove a pair of stolen limousines through a window into a Dubai mall,
taking watches and other valuables worth over $12.5 million.
In another robbery, they dressed up as women and stole over $100
million worth of jewelry from a Harry Winston store in Paris, using
Mission Impossible-style prosthetic make-up as a disguise. The most
interesting feature of the Pink Panthers is that they do not use
weapons. Many of their heists are below 45 seconds, and are done without
the use of guns – this leaves the civilians around them untouched. This
is truly a considerate group of thieves: why hurt anyone that has
nothing to do with the heist?
The Pink Panthers are such a secretive group of thieves that only
continues to expand throughout Eastern Europe and make record breaking
heists. Although several gang members have been imprisoned, the identity
of the majority of the members still remains questionary. Interpol is
having trouble dealing with the organization.
How can you catch someone that you do not know really exists? The
alleged leader of the gang, Dragan Mikic, was arrested in the early
2000′s. However, in true Pink Panther fashion Dragan escaped from prison
in 2005. He scaled a rope ladder while Pink Panthers fired machine guns
at the prison wall. Thus, Dragan completed a successful escape. He has
been on the run ever since.
The group is thought to consist of over two hundred members.
Therefore, it is safe to say that a majority of their heists have been
successful and many of the members have simply gotten away with their
crimes. Their total haul is believed to be in the billions of dollars.
The real Bling Ring? Life imitates art at Cannes as expensive jewellery is stolen
Chopard is one of Cannes Film Festival’s official sponsors
Or should that be life imitating art imitating life? Either way,
thousands of pounds worth of jewellery has been stolen at Cannes Film
Festival, around the same time that The Bling Ring premiered, a film
about a gang stealing thousands of pounds worth of jewellery.
Surely this is a particularly elaborate PR stunt I hear you cry? Not
so, with French police confirming the burglary, which took place at a
Novotel hotel room.
A safe was ripped off the wall and carried away, according to police
sources, its $1m (£650,ooo) contents belonging to Swiss jeweller
Chopard.
The Bling Ring premiered in Cannes yesterday (May 16)
The jewellery was intended to be loaned to celebrities attending the annual film festival.
The Bling Ring is based on a Vanity Fair article that profiled a gang
of teenagers who immersed themselves in celebrity life before using the
opportunities it presented to steal expensive jewels and possessions
from stars, with Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan and more allegedly being
stung.
The BBC reports that the robbery has all the hallmarks of a classic Riviera heist.
Cannes jewel heist: Notorious 'Pink Panthers' gang suspected of million-dollar raid
Cops believe a mob - who have targeted the awards ceremony before - were behind the theft of gems worth over £656,000
Crime scene: A police car is parked outside the Novotel Hotel, Cannes
Getty
A notorious international gang of thieves are suspected of pulling a million-dollar jewel heist at the Cannes Film Festival.
Detectives
in the South of France believe a mob called the Pink Panthers – who
have targeted the awards ceremony before – were behind yesterday’s theft of gems worth over £656,000.
The
daring raid was carried out right under the noses of detectives as the
jewels were stolen from a hotel directly opposite Cannes’ main police
station.
The necklaces, bracelets and other valuable pieces, were
destined to be worn by celebrities including British model Cara
Delevingne, singer Cheryl Cole and actress Carey Mulligan.
It is
believed the crime ring targeted a room at the Novotel, where the gems
were being kept in a safe by an employee of Swiss luxury jewellers
Chopard.
The metal strongbox was ripped from the wall at around 5am yesterday morning.
The female employee staying in the room was yesterday being quizzed by detectives, but has not been arrested.
Bling: Cara Delevingne was due to wear some of the jewels
WireImage
She was part of a 40-strong Chopard team, responsible for
loaning valuables to stars for red carpet events and A-list parties at
the film festival.
The woman had a meal out with friends and colleagues on Thursday evening until the early hours.
A police source on the French Riviera yesterday revealed: “The room was said to be empty.”
Commandant
Bernard Mascarelli, of the Nice police force, said the safe must have
been hidden from view as it left the second-floor room.
Detectives
suspect the jewels have been transported to a safe house or yacht in
the Mediterranean harbour or may even have been shipped to another
country already.
Forces across Europe were last night placed on high alert for any information linked to the theft.
Chopard is one of the Cannes Film Festival’s key sponsors.
It designs the prestigious Palme d’Or award handed out to the director of the best film at each year’s event.
The
firm yesterday declined to comment on the theft, but as police combed
the hotel and scrutinised CCTV footage for clues, sources speculated
that the Pink Panthers were behind the heist.
The crack gang of thieves, responsible for over £253million worth of
jewellery thefts since 1999, has been linked to several previous raids
on Cannes’ boutiques and hotels.
Many take place while celebs are
walking the red carpet at the annual festival, where stars this year
included supermodel Cindy Crawford and Hollywood actress Julianne Moore –
who wore a Chopard ring to Leonardo DiCaprio’s Great Gatsby premiere.
Some detectives suspect the gang may have watched last year’s glittering event as they planned for yesterday’s heist.
It bears some resemblance to the plot of movie The Bling Ring, which was premiered the same night as the raid.
The
crime drama, starring Harry Potter actress Emma Watson and directed by
Sofia Coppola, is based on a true story about teenagers who use the
internet to track celebs so they can raid their homes.
Last year, French footballer Souleymane Diawara and Turkish ace
Mamadou Niang lost jewels and watches worth £350,000 after thieves broke
into their rented villa while they were out enjoying the festivities.
In
2011, Argentinian film producer and Cannes judge Martina Gusman, had
cash and valuables stolen from her room at the Marriott hotel.
In 2009, the Cannes’ Cartier boutique had more than £15million worth of jewels stolen by robbers wearing Hawaiian shirts.
That same year a Chopard store on the Place Vendome was also raided for over £6million worth of jewels.
The Pink Panthers are named after the elusive jewellery thief in Peter Sellers’ famous Inspector Clouseau movies.
They
are said to have hundreds of members based across the globe, who are
prepared to go to extraordinary lengths to pull off a job.
In 2007
they drove two speeding cars into a Dubai shopping centre and stole a
staggering £8million worth of jewels in less than one minute.
Many
of the Pink Panthers are believed to originate from former Yugoslavia,
but they have proved hugely difficult to track down because of their
movements across dozens of countries and several continents.
Among
their formidable ranks are meticulous heist planners and experienced
organised-crime lords, as well as jewellery experts and specialist
salesman who deal in black market valuables.
Police believe the close connection to the prestigious festival may help the Panthers push up the price of yesterday’s loot.
More
than 90 individuals with links to the Pink Panthers were arrested by
Interpol member states in 2011, but hundreds more are still believed to
be at large.
And, despite members being jailed in connection with
the robberies, many millions of pounds worth of jewels stolen in
previous raids have never been recovered.
500 working for Serb gems gang
Notorious: Interpol page on the Pink Panthers gang
Interpol
The Pink Panthers are one of the most notorious criminal
gangs in the world and have masterminded robberies from Monaco to Dubai.
They have up to 500 members, mostly based in Serbia, and are thought to be led by Dragan Mikic.
He has been on the run since 2005 when he broke out of jail in a hail of machine gun fire.
Interpol has a website page about the gang.
In 2008 the Pink Panthers carried out their biggest-ever heist stealing £55million of jewellery from a Paris store.
And only on Tuesday a member of the gang escaped from a Swiss prison and is on the run.
Belgian police arrest 31 after major diamond heist
A Belgian prosecutor has said that a total of 31 people were arrested,
most of them in Belgium, in connection with the February diamond heist
at Brussels Airport. She said money and stones were seized in the raids.
Belgian, French and Swiss police conducted a series of raids and
arrested 31 suspects in connection with February's major diamond robbery
from a plane set to leave Brussels Airport.
Belgian prosecutor Anja Bijnens said at a news conference that one
person was arrested in France, six in Switzerland and a further 24 in
Belgium.
A suspected member of the eight-man gang, who posed as armed police and
seized the stones from a cargo plane on the runway, was picked up in
France on Tuesday. This was apparently the catalyst for further
mobilization.
"The probe led to a big police operation yesterday," a spokesman for the
Brussels prosecutor's office, Jean-Marc Meilleur, said on Wednesday.
Subsequent early morning raids involved more than 200 Belgian police
officers and "recovered big amounts of cash," he said.
His colleague Bijnens said that as well as the seizure of currency in
Belgium, some of the diamonds were recovered in Switzerland, neither of
them went into detail on the amounts.
The Antwerp World Diamond Center had estimated the value of the gems
stolen on February 18 at $50 million (38.1 million euros). The northern
Belgian city of Antwerp is one of the world's key diamond hubs.
The group of eight men had cut a hole in a fence at the Zavantem airport
in Brussels. They drove through in imitation police vehicles with
flashing sirens and themselves wore mock police uniforms and masks. The
armed men then snatched 120 parcels from a diamond shipment that was
being loaded from a security truck onto a plane bound for Switzerland.
The apparently professional band made it in and out within minutes and never fired a shot.
Prosecutor Meilleur said the man initially arrested in France was thought to be among the airport robbers.
"This person has a very heavy judicial background in France and his extradition to Belgium has been requested, Meilleur said.
msh/jm (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)
Exclusive: Britain's largest seize of stolen artifacts since Egypt's revolution
British police arrest a UK-based businessman on suspicion of looting Egyptian antiquities.
The Scotland Yard's Art & Antiquities Squad (AAS) made the arrest
on Friday, 3 May when international arts auction house, Christie's,
reported that it had identified some antiquities which are almost
certainly stolen from Egypt recently.
This is one of the biggest operations of its kind since the Egyptian
revolution exploded in 2011, well-informed sources confirm to Ahram
Online.
Christie's experts, the British museum's Egyptology department, the
Egyptian embassy in London and the Art Loss Register worked closely for
weeks to identify six stolen objects. The AAS is now trying to determine
how these objects left Egypt, how the seller came to possess them and
who his accomplices are.
Ahram Online understands that the seller (now in custody) claims he had inherited the Egyptian objects from his uncle.
He told the international auctioneer that his uncle served in Egypt
during WWII and stayed on for a few years before returning to the UK in
the '50s.
These objects were due to be sold at a Christie's auction on 2 May in London.
"Christie's works closely with international authorities and
organisations towards our shared objective of preventing the illicit
trade in improperly exported or stolen works of art," Christie's
Director of Communications Matthew Paton tells Ahram Online. Paton
pledged extra vigilance considering Egyptian antiquities authorities'
concerns after the 2011 revolution and also to do their utmost to get
these objects back to Egypt.
He also emphasised that Christie's believes in strict internal policies
to thoroughly research the provenance of any item consigned for sale.
The Egyptian Embassy in London confirmed to Ahram Online it is in
constant contact with the Egyptian Ministry of State for Antiquities in
order to file the proper documents to repatriate the stolen antiquities.
One of the stolen objects is a recent find from Amenhotep III in
Western Thebes. Made of Egyptian red granite, the relief fragment
depicts a Nubian prisoner, facing right, with short hair and wearing
heavy hooped earrings and a collar necklace (1550 - 1069 BC).
Another is an Egyptian painted limestone relief fragment depicting a
male figure with his head facing left. Experts say it is very likely to
have originated from a recently-rediscovered and excavated tomb, again
in Thebes.
Egyptian Ambassador to the UK Ashraf El-kholy praised Christie's
vigilance and willingness to investigate the provenance of the Egyptian
objects.
"Without their support and cooperation, we would not have been able to
spot and get these invaluable antiquities back," he told Ahram Online.
Operation 'to catch a thief’ catches art theft on video
Kings
County District Attorney Charles J. Hynes and Nassau County District
Attorney Kathleen M. Rice on Monday announced the indictment of Joselito
Vega, 42, for money laundering as part of a stolen art scheme.
Vega, from Eastern Pennsylvania, allegedly stole the paintings from a
Kings Point, Long Island, estate that he was hired to paint and selling
at least one of them. Then, he laundered the money he received by
getting his ex-sister-in-law to cash the check in Brooklyn, according to
the charges.
Vega was indicted in the Brooklyn case on charges of money
laundering, identity theft and grand larceny. In Nassau County, Vega
faces separate charges of grand larceny.
Hynes said, “The defendant tried to launder the proceeds from the
stolen art in Brooklyn. Investigators were able to track down one of
the works in an Oakland art gallery. It obviously raises a red flag
when you are selling a $50,000 painting for less than $10,000.”
“The Schulhof Estate spent decades gathering and protecting hundreds
of pieces of artwork, yet where others saw incredible beauty in these
paintings, Joselito Vega only saw the opportunity to make a quick buck,”
Rice said.
In March 2011, Vega was working for Zimmer Painting, Inc, and was
assigned to a job at the Schulhof Estate in Kings Point. The Schulhof
Collection includes more than 300 works of art. Approximately one year
later, when the Schulhof Estate performed an inventory, they realized
that three works were missing.
An investigation, dubbed Operation To Catch a Thief, found that one
painting was given to the Clars Auction Gallery in Oakland, Calif., to
sell. Throughout the interactions between the defendant and the art
gallery, he used his ex-sister-in-law’s name without her knowledge, and
had the check for the sale of the work addressed to her and sent to a
private mailbox in Bay Ridge, according to the DA’s Office.
Further investigation revealed that the Bay Ridge mailbox belonged to Vega under the name Danny Vega.
Vega then asked his ex-sister-in-law to set up a bank account in her
name so that she could cash the check for him. He used the excuse that
he receives Social Security benefits and did not want to lose the
benefits if the state found out that he received that sum of money.
Detectives from the Kings County District Attorney’s Office set up a
sting operation to catch him in the act. On April 29, Vega was hired to
do another job at the estate in Kings Point. Works of art were placed
in the home, and hidden cameras were set up. Vega was caught on video
taking three works, including a $10,000 Pablo Picasso etching, “Three
Graces II.”
He was soon arrested by detective investigators. In total, the six
paintings that Vega is alleged to have stolen are worth over $100,000.
Antiques worth £30,000 stolen from Birdlip
POLICE are urging collectors and traders to be on the lookout after
antiques valued at £30,000 were stolen in an overnight burglary at a
house in Birdlip.
The items, including a plate, two teapot creamers and sugar bowls, a
toast rack, two holders and a ladle – all made from silver – were taken
after the house was broken into between 11pm on April 25 and 8am the
following day.
Once inside, the thieves also stole two Chinese figurines and a
canteen of cutlery, along with a Sony laptop, a handbag and a wallet.
Investigating officers are urging antique collectors and traders to
keep an eye out for the antiques and to contact police if they see them
or are offered any for sale.
Antiques worth millions stolen from ex-minister
Colombo: Robbers have stolen nearly Rs5.4million [Dh0.1million] worth
300-years-old wall clock and an antique oil lamp (6.5ft) also worth a
few millions from the residence of former finance minister Ronie de Mel
residence at Geekiyanakandawatte, Matara.
Police had found those expensive time piece and the lamp to be sold to a hardware shop for mere Rs 8,000.
The police found them the antiques being discarded in the iron warehouse.
The suspects, the hardware stores owner and few others have been arrested.
Madonna sells Leger painting for $7.2m
Madonna bought Leger's Trois Femmes a la Table Rouge for £2.2m in 1990
A painting by Fernand Leger owned by Madonna has been sold for $7.2 million (£4.7m) in New York.
The singer bought the 1921 Cubist work, Three Women at the Red Table, in 1990 for $3.4m (£2.2m).
According to Sotheby's, proceeds from the sale "will benefit
Madonna's Ray of Light Foundation, supporting girls' education projects
in the Middle East and South Asia".
"Thanks to everyone who helped make it happen!" said the pop star on Facebook.
Before Tuesday's sale, Madonna said she wanted "to trade something valuable for something invaluable - educating girls".
Cezanne's Les Pommes fetched the highest price in the Sotheby's spring sale
The sale formed part of a Sotheby's sale of Impressionist and modern art that took more than $230m (£148.6m).
Les Pommes, a still life from by French artist Paul Cezanne, fetched the highest price, selling for $41.6m (£26.9m).
L'Amazone, a portrait of French socialite Baroness Marguerite
de Hasse de Villers by Amedeo Modigliani, went for $25.9m (£16.7m).
A Pablo Picasso sculpture of his young muse Sylvette, meanwhile, sold for $13.6m (£8.8m).
Overall the auction failed to live up to last year's event,
which saw a version of Edvard Munch's The Scream sell for a world record
$119.9m (£77.4m).
Cleaning lady pleads guilty in $3M Montco art theft
A former cleaning lady Monday admitted to her role in the theft
of what prosecutors described as a “priceless” porcelain Ben Franklin
bust that was in pieces when authorities took her into custody. The
owner of the art said its value is at least $3 million.
Andrea Lawton, 47, formerly of Philadelphia, entered an open
guilty plea in Montgomery County Court to charges of theft and burglary.
An open plea means there is no agreement on a sentence between the
prosecution and the defense and that Lawton is essentially throwing
herself on the mercy of the court.
Judge Carolyn T. Carluccio postponed sentencing until she can learn more about Lawton’s background.
Lawton and an accomplice she has repeatedly
refused to name broke into a Lower Merion home in the 600 block of Black
Rock Road, Lower Merion, on Aug. 24.
While Lawton waited outside in the car, she
directed the accomplice to the 25-pound bust, one of only four created
in 1778 by French sculptor Jean-Antoine Houdon while Franklin was
visiting Paris.
Lawton, who previously had performed cleaning
services at the home, knew the bust was valuable because all members of
the cleaning crews sent to the home by the service that had employed her
were advised of its value, according to court documents.
Also missing from the home was a framed autograph
picture of composer Victor Herbert that included one of his conductor
batons and a handwritten listing of his compositions, according to court
documents. Lawton has never admitted to the theft of this item, which
has an estimated value of $80,000.
Lawton, who was nabbed by authorities on Sept. 21
on her way to sell the bust to an unknown party in Elkton, Md., said
she stole the bust because she wanted to “get back” at the head of the
cleaning service and “get her fired” because the agency head had fired
Lawton, according to court documents.
“She broke a priceless piece of artwork that was
made while Benjamin Franklin was still alive,” said county First
Assistant District Attorney Kevin R. Steele, who said he would be
seeking a “significant” sentence for Lawton.
The bust, which its owner estimated had a value
of at least $3 million, is now at a New York museum where work is under
way to repair it, said Steele.
Two other reasons for seeking a stiff sentence,
said Steele, are the second item still has not been recovered nor has
Lawton named her accomplice.
Montgomery County Defense attorney Michael John
said he will recommend that any county sentence his client receives be
served concurrently with the federal sentence she is handed next month.
Lawton is facing a maximum 20-year federal
sentence after pleading guilty in that court to transporting stolen
artwork across state lines.
“This is all one event,” said John, adding that
his client is remorseful for her actions and that the two guilty pleas
reflect her willingness to take responsibility for her actions.
Rhino horns stolen in National Museum raid were not insured
RHINOCEROS horns stolen from the National Museum during an armed raid were not insured.
Four heads with eight horns, worth €500,000, were stolen from a
storage facility in Swords, Co Dublin, late on Wednesday night and are
probably destined for the Far East.
Three masked men broke into
the National Museum's Collections Resource Centre (CRC) on the Balheary
Road at about 10.40pm and tied up a security man before fleeing an hour
later in a white van.
The security guard was not injured and later managed to free himself and alert the gardai shortly after midnight.
The
heads had been taken out of public display more than a year ago and put
into storage after a spate of similar thefts from museums across
Europe.
The rhinoceros horns were up to 100 years old and were
probably stolen to supply the illegal trade in powdered horn that is
used in traditional medicines in the Far East.
The gardai sealed
off the premises to carry out a technical examination, and an incident
room has been set up at Swords garda station.
CCTV footage is being examined as part of the probe.
Keeper
with the National Museum, Nigel Monaghan, said last night the horns,
which were on display on Merrion Street, were removed more than a year
ago amid security concerns.
"We took a decision a couple of years
ago, largely on garda advice and also from monitoring the traffic
internationally, following a steady rise of theft of rhino horn. The
pattern was to smash and grab, even when the museums were open, and we
did not want to put the public at risk.
"The horns were in the CRC
for the last year. They would be powdered up and sold in the medicinal
trade in the east, and would be worth about €500,000."
And he admitted that the horns were not insured, despite their value.
"Generally,
the museum would insure items which are sent on loan to other
institutions. Generally, state heritage is not covered by insurance
because you'd be spending a fortune on insurance premiums. They were not
insured.
"We would hope that the rhino heads are recovered . . .
Unless you've got connections to the Far East trophy heads would
normally fetch a couple of thousand euro." Back-story Rathkeale Rovers
DUBLIN — Masked men stole stuffed rhinoceros heads containing eight
valuable horns from the warehouse of Ireland's National Museum, police
and museum officials said Thursday, in a heist being linked to an Irish
Gypsy gang that specializes in such raids across Europe.
Police said three men raided the storeroom in Swords, north of
Dublin, on Wednesday night and tied up the lone security guard. He later
freed himself and raised the alarm.
Nigel Monaghan, keeper at the National Museum's natural
history section, said the museum had never experienced such a theft
before but had worried that the rhinos would be targeted. He said the
four heads – three of black rhinos from Kenya, one of the virtually
extinct white rhino from Sudan, all killed more than a century ago –
were removed from display last year and put into storage specifically to
safeguard them from thieves.
He said the eight horns could be worth a total of about (EURO)500,000 ($650,000) on the black market based on their weight.
Three of the five species of rhinoceros in Africa and South Asia have
been hunted to the verge of extinction because their horns command
exceptionally high prices for use in traditional Asian medicine chiefly
in China and Vietnam, where the powdered horn is marketed as an
aphrodisiac and even as a cure for cancer. The horns are made of
keratin, a fibrous protein that is the building block for skin and hair,
and has no documented medicinal value.
In 2011, Europol issued a warning that an Irish Gypsy criminal
network based in the County Limerick village of Rathkeale was
responsible for dozens of thefts of rhino horns across Europe. Europol
said the thieves – officially called the Rathkeale Rovers but also
dubbed the Dead Zoo Gang by Dublin tabloids – had already targeted
museums, galleries, zoos, auction houses, antique dealers and private
collections in Britain, continental Europe, the United States and South
America.
In 2010, U.S. undercover agents arrested two members of the Rathkeale
gang trying to buy four black rhino horns in Colorado. They both
received six-month prison sentences.
Rathkeale is considered the epicenter for Ireland's Gypsy minority,
known locally as "travellers." They own most of the properties in the
town, which regularly experiences huge influxes of Irish travellers from
throughout Ireland and Britain arriving in luxury vehicles for clan
events.
Irish police and Europol say the Rathkeale criminal network also is
involved in road-tarmac fraud and the sale of counterfeit goods,
particularly tools and engine parts.
Stolen Egg Found: $1.3 Million Faberge Style Object Found Near Swiss Border... And More Arts News
Painting Worth €1.2m Stolen From A Yacht Turns Up At Former Juventus Star Roberto Bettega’s House
A painting by preeminent Russian-Jewish artist Marc Chagall that was
stolen from an American yacht anchored in an Italian port over a decade
ago has resurfaced hanging on the walls of former Juventus striker
Roberto Bettega’s house in Turin after being tracked down by Italy’s
art-theft police squadron.
The painting, called “Le Nu au Bouquet” was painted by Chagall in
1920 and is conservatively estimated to be worth around €1.2 million…
Italian authorities have been quick to absolve Bettega, who bought
the painting in good faith from a gallery in Bologna back in 2003.
Bettega (who played for Juve several hundred times between 1969 and
1983, picked up 45 caps for the Italian national side and is currently
employed as the Bianconeri’s deputy director-general) was said to be
unaware that the painting was stolen from an American-owned yacht which
had been anchored for repairs in the northern port of Savona and had no idea the gallery he bought it from was a clearing house for stolen artwork.
According to Italian news coverage, the thieves replaced the original
painting on the yacht with a copy and then hoodwinked the Chagall
Foundation into providing a new authentication for the stolen artwork.
We’re fairly sure there’s a joke about dodgy Juventus directors in
there somewhere but frankly we’re not willing to make it on legal
grounds.
Billionaire Tamir Sapir Failed
To Notice That $200,000 Worth of Silver Champagne Buckets Had Been
Stolen From His Long Island Mansion
Billionaire cabbie-turned-real-estate mogul Tamir Sapir was recently
the victim of theft at his $20 million Long Island mansion after a construction worker allegedly stole four antique silver champagne buckets worth $200,000, according to Newsday.
But the real crime is that Mr. Sapir didn’t even notice that his
extravagant booze buckets were gone until an auction house called him
months after the fact. Being a billionaire is hard!
Apparently, Mr. Sapir only learned of the theft when Sotheby’s
notified him that construction worker Anatoliy Maryuk had tried to fence
two of the buckets—made in France and worth $50,000 a pop—to the
auction company in September 2011. Mr. Maryuk had, at this point,
allegedly sold the two other buckets on Ebay.
In Mr. Sapir’s defense, $200,000 is kind a drop in the silver
champagne bucket when you’re worth $2 billion. And it takes a lot of
time and energy to manage a real estate empire as well as one’s
personal, palatial dwellings, let alone worry about every piece of
$50,000 kitchen equipment. And while we’d like to believe that the life
of a real estate mogul with a sprawling Long Island mansion means
drinking expensive champagne every evening, we understand that even
people who can afford to chug the finest bubbly sometimes prefer other
libations. Besides, when one has a staff, one doesn’t necessarily
interact with one’s household belongings on a daily basis—perhaps the
butler simply assumed that the antiques had been misplaced by a maid and
started using one of the other silver champagne buckets.
Sadly, if court documents filed in 2010 are true, there might be
another explanation for the mogul’s absent-mindedness. While Mr. Sapir
appears to have been busy managing his extensive personal and real
estate holdings these last few years—selling the Duke Semans mansion to Carlos Slim for $44 million, importing endangered and exotic animal carcases into the country on his yacht, buying the perfect Long Island mansion, he has allegedly been suffering from aphasia—”a
deteriorating mental condition” since 1998. The condition has left him
unable to form comprehensible sentences in either English or his native
Russian, and to do little other than sign his name, according to court
documents that came to light as part of the $130 million lawsuit against
him. (Although one wonders why a man who can longer form comprehensible
sentences is allowed to sign documents.)
But if Mr. Sapir is no longer calling the shots at his business
empire (rumors abound that his son Alex is the one running the show
these days), surely there’s someone looking after his personal affairs
who should be safeguarding his very expensive champagne buckets? And
making sure that 150-foot yacht isn’t filled with stuffed Bengal tiger
heads when it enters U.S. waters (being shipped on an Italian freighter
no less)?
For his part, Mr. Maryuk, who is being charged with second-degree
larceny, denies that he pilfered the pricey buckets, according to his
lawyer. In the meantime, we’ll toast to the truth being uncovered in a
timely manner.
Flagons stolen from Clifton Park Museum
The 18th Century silver flagons were stolen from Clifton Park Museum
Two 18th Century silver flagons worth £30,000 have been stolen from a museum in South Yorkshire.
The 36.5cm high (14in) drinking vessels were taken from Clifton Park Museum in Rotherham on Tuesday.
Thieves broke into the museum overnight by smashing a window, South Yorkshire Police said.
Both flagons had a domed hinged cover with a leaf scroll
thumb-piece and engraved with "The Gift of Mrs Mary Bellamy, Late of
Rotherham, 1781".
The George III flagons, which have a hollow handle with a heart shape at the end, weighed 116oz (3kg) in total.
Police have appealed for witnesses.
Stolen Antiques Discovered At Chop Shop, 2 Arrested
A major burglary operation and chop shop is out of commission.
Police found guns, auto parts, and of all things…expensive stolen antiques.
It happened in Fresno, at a home near Herndon and Highway 99.
Two people are in custody.
CBS 47's Lemor Abrams has more on with what went down.
Police
found room after room loaded with stolen stuff, auto parts stripped
from new cars, and $25,000 worth of antiques, stolen days earlier from a
Fresno antique shop.
“We set up a deal here at North Garfield…out
here in the country. As we set it up to buy the antiques he was
selling-we showed up and served a search warrant,” said Fresno Police
Sgt. Tim Tietjen.
Fresno
Police's Burglary Task Force initially went for the antiques, but say a
man and woman were also running a fencing operation and chop shop.
“He
was actively involved in having people bring the vehicles out to him
but he was also active in burglaries inside city where he was
participating in stealing the antiques from some of these stores,” said
Sgt. Tietjen.
And the suspects aren't going down easy. Police accuse them of burning down the antique shop a couple days after burglarizing it.
“After they got what thought they wanted Saturday, they actually burned the business… arson,” said Sgt. Tietjen.
The antique dealer showed up to take back his collection.
Police are looking for other victims.
“We’re sure we're going to find other victims...we're doing more follow reports,” said Sgt. Tietjen.
‘Reconnaissance units’ stake out houses for burglar gangs
Criminal
gangs are using reconnaissance units to stake out houses before leaving
chalk markings outside denoting if they’re ripe for burgling or too
risky to enter.
Muintir
na TÃre’s national co-ordinator for community alert, Liam Kelly,
described the use of the so-called ‘Da Pinchi Code’ as “very
disturbing”.
The chalk markings have appeared in Dublin, Drogheda, and Limerick areas in recent months.
It is understood at least eight signs are being used by the “recon
unit”, one of which indicates the occupant is a vulnerable female and
easily conned.
Another points to the householder being nervous and afraid, while other
signs indicate the house is a good target and its owners are wealthy.
Reconnaissance units also save their burglar colleagues time by leaving
signs showing there is nothing worth stealing from a house, or it is too
risky to attempt burgling it.
Mr Kelly, a retired garda, said that years ago he had come across
such markings, which are used regularly by criminal gangs in Britain.
“The re-emergence of these signs [in Ireland] is very disturbing,” he said.
“We advise anybody who sees them to immediately remove them and report it to the gardaÃ.”
He advised people in particular to keep a close eye out on the homes of
elderly or vulnerable neighbours in case such markings suddenly appear
outside their properties.
Mick Neary, a consultant with the firm National Security, has posted the signs on his company website to alert the public.
“My own father was a garda and he knew of the existence of these signs years ago,” he said.
“People should be especially aware of casual labourers coming to their
doors looking to do work because they could be reconnaissance men.
“From our information they are also checking on the security company
name on alarm boxes. They check on the internet to see if the company
has gone out of business. If it went out of business a few years ago
it’s likely the alarm hasn’t been serviced and the chances are it will
not work properly.”
Mr Neary said the average burglar will spend just eight minutes in a
house and as such could cause considerable damage in a short space of
time in an estate where they know householders are out at work.
A Garda spokesman said there was “insufficient evidence to significantly link such markings with burglaries”.
Fight for Nazi-looted art must continue
For
more than 15 years, I and my law firm have been fortunate to have been
provided the opportunity to handle, on behalf of the families of victims
of the Holocaust, some of the most significant cases brought to recover
artworks looted by the Nazi regime as part of its murderous programme
to eliminate a whole race of people from the face of the earth.
The efforts to recover Nazi-looted art have been well-publicised and
reported on internationally. As a result, the sometimes enormous sums
paid for recovered artworks at auction and elsewhere have also been
widely covered, and some commentators have criticised the lawyers and
researchers who have helped the claimants recover their art. Some even
criticise the claimants themselves. Still others have begun calling
claimants and their lawyers "bounty hunters" and referring to the
"restitution industry" as a huge money-making operation. They reproach
claimants for selling the works they recover, rather than donating them
to museums and so proving that they are not "doing this just for the
money".
And I am not now speaking about extreme right-wing bloggers whose
rants we might comfortably dismiss as antisemitic ravings. Rather, these
type of comments have come from so-called legitimate sources. There's
Jonathan Jones, an art writer for the Guardian and a former Turner Prize
juror, who wrote in 2009: "A work of art should never, ever be taken
away from a public museum without the strongest of reasons. Making good
the crimes of the Nazis may seem just that - but it is meaningless. No
horrors are reversed. Instead, historical threads are broken, paintings
are taken away from the cities where they have the deepest meaning, and
money is made by the art market."
And then there is Sir Norman Rosenthal, former exhibitions secretary
of the Royal Academy of Arts - and the son of Jewish refugees - writing
in the Art Newspaper in 2008: "Grandchildren or distant relations of
people who had works of art or property taken away by the Nazis do not
now have an inalienable right to ownership, at the beginning of the 21st
century. If valuable objects have ended up in the public sphere, even
on account of the terrible facts of history, then that is the way it
is."
That is the way it is?
Added to this chorus is Bernd Schultz, director of Berlin's Villa
Grisebach auction house, who in 2007 put it very simply: "They say
'Holocaust,' but mean money… In New York, some call this Shoah
Business."
In my view, such comments are offensive and lack any justification.
Let us not forget that these artworks are being recovered for the heirs
of their true owners. They were taken away from them by the murderers of
the Third Reich, often in the course of carrying out the Final
Solution. Who except the families of these owners have the right to
decide what to do with their property?
Regardless of whether these works are important to the world's
culture, surely it is the choice of the claimants and the claimants
alone as to whether they would like to donate or loan them to the great
museums, sell them on the open market or keep them among their prized
possessions? In other words, we should treat them with the same respect
we accord to any other collector who owns a great artwork. Would we ever
require that all those who own great art, but whose families did not
lose it during the Holocaust, donate it to museums to prove that they
are not greedy and selfish?
How ironic and repulsive it is to criticise victims of the Nazis, who
are not only trying to get back their own property but trying to
correct in some small way the ghastly injustices of the Nazis. As for
the researchers and lawyers who work for years on these cases, with no
certainty of victory: is it improper for the claimants to pay them even
if that means selling the artworks they have recovered?
But the criticism of our work has not stopped there. A different
attack was launched during the decade-long case to recover the "Portrait
of Wally" by Egon Schiele, the first major case of its type heard in
the US. We represented the Bondi Jaray estate in that case against the
Leopold Museum of Vienna, and worked jointly with the US federal
government throughout the case. It was brought by the government under
the so-called forfeiture laws, based on our contention that "Wally" was
wrongfully imported into the United States for temporary exhibition at
the Museum of Modern Art in New York in violation of the National Stolen
Property Act.
It began with the US government's seizure of "Wally" at the Museum of
Modern Art to prevent its return to Austria, pending the resolution of
the case, which sent shock waves around the world. The case was finally
resolved in 2010 by the payment of the artwork's full value by the
Leopold Museum to Jaray's estate. The Leopold Museum also agreed to post
a sign next to "Wally" wherever it is displayed, setting out the facts
of its prior ownership and the lawsuit, and have it displayed at the
Jewish Heritage Museum in New York for three weeks before it was
returned to Austria.
Throughout the decade of the court proceedings, we heard repeatedly
from many quarters this simple question: why was the US government
involved in the case at all? Why were substantial government resources
being committed to what these same critics characterised as nothing more
than a title dispute, one that should have been resolved in a civil
lawsuit between the estate and the Leopold Museum? Indeed, the question
entered into the lawsuit itself, when the two major American museum
associations, and several important individual museums, joined as
"friends of the court" on the side of the Leopold Museum and the Museum
of Modern Art to urge the court to dismiss the case entirely.
This line of questioning is critically important because it really
raises the issue of whether governments should play a major role in
trying to resolve Nazi-looted art claims. Despite the misgivings of
many, it is clear that this action was both consistent with and fully
promoted the express public policy interests of the US regarding
Holocaust-looted art.
As former US district court chief judge (and later Attorney General)
Michael B Mukasey determined in one of the early decisions in the case:
"On its face, [the National Stolen Property Act] proscribes the
transportation in foreign commerce of all property over $5,000 known to
be stolen or converted. Although the museum… would have it otherwise,
art on loan to a museum - even a [so-called] 'world-renowned museum' -
is not exempt." Explaining further, the court added that "if 'Wally' is
stolen or converted, application of [the Act] will 'discourage both the
receiving of stolen goods and the initial taking,' which was Congress's
apparent purpose." The court concluded that there was "a strong federal
interest in enforcing these laws".
Indeed, it was the US government that led the way in urging
governments around the world to seek ways to advance the policy of
identifying art looted from the Nazis and returning it to its rightful
owners. It convened a meeting of 44 nations at the Washington Conference
in 1998, which adopted the Washington Principles on Nazi-Confiscated
Art. One principle states that pre-war owners and their heirs should be
encouraged to come forward to make known their claims to art that was
confiscated by the Nazis and not subsequently restituted, and another
states that, once they do so, steps should be taken expeditiously to
achieve a just and fair solution, recognising this may vary according to
the facts and circumstances surrounding a specific case.
Another principle adopted at the Washington Conference encouraged the
resolution of these disputes by "alternative dispute resolution," where
possible, to avoid long drawn-out litigation. Throughout the "Wally"
case, there was much consternation expressed that it had not been
settled much earlier and that such long litigation was exactly the wrong
way to go about resolving Nazi-looted art claims. But it is important
to understand that the government brought this action and seized "Wally"
before it was about to be put on a plane to Austria and thus beyond the
reach of any plausible attempt at resolution. The Austrian government,
while adopting a law in 1998 that was purportedly designed to ensure the
careful review of claims for Nazi-looted artworks, had determined that,
as a "private foundation", the Leopold Museum was not covered by this -
despite the fact that the Austrian government provided a substantial
amount of the Leopold Museum's funding and appointed half of its board
of directors.
In any court case, it is of course usually in all the parties' best
interest to reach a mutually acceptable resolution as early as possible.
But, as is often the case, it is only after the court issues a decision
resolving many of the issues - as happened in the "Wally" case in
autumn 2009 - that the parties become clearly focused on what is going
to be the likely outcome of the case. But regardless of how long it
took, securing the artwork in the US, certainly promoted the
government's interest in fairly resolving these cases and preventing the
trafficking of stolen Holocaust property.
The Washington Conference led eventually to the Holocaust Era Assets
Conference, held in Prague in 2009, at which 46 nations adopted the
Terezin Declaration. That pronouncement makes clear that
Holocaust-looted art claims should be resolved on their merits ,without
regard to so-called technical defences like the statute of limitations.
But this has led to criticism as well.
At a series of US State Department-organised meetings, although the
museum community joined calls for the resolution of Nazi-looted art
claims on this basis, they raised an objection. The museum
representatives made clear that they retained the right to move to
dismiss cases on the grounds of the statute of limitations, if they have
made the determination in particular cases that the claims in the case
lacked merit. Thus, rather than allow these claims to be determined on
their merits before a court of law, these museums would rather play the
role of judge and jury themselves once they are convinced that they are
right. Clearly, there is still much work to be done to reach a consensus
on this matter.
One commentator, Eric Gibson, who well understood the true
significance of the efforts to recover these precious belongings for the
families of the original owners, once asked the question: "Why do we
bother with recovering [Nazi-looted art] at all? Plundering is, after
all, the handmaiden of war. And the world's museums are filled with
objects lifted during conflicts from the Romans on." Gibson's answer to
his own question eloquently describes just why the recovery of these
looted artworks is so critically important: "Why do we bother?
[Because] the Nazis weren't simply out to enrich themselves. Their
looting was part of the Final Solution. They wanted to eradicate a race
by extinguishing its culture as well as its people. This gives these
works of art a unique resonance, the more so since some of them were
used as barter for safe passage out of Germany or Austria for family
members. The objects are symbols of a terrible crime; recovering them is
an equally symbolic form of justice."
And even more poignant are the words of Henry Bondi, the now-deceased
former leader of the family of Lea Bondi Jaray, on whose behalf we
sought the recovery of "Wally": "You ask did they kill, yes they killed.
They killed for art, when it suited them. So killing Jews and
confiscating art somehow went together."
Earlier this week, on Monday, we observed Yom Hashoah, the Day of
Holocaust Remembrance, and we recently commemorated the 75th anniversary
of the Anschluss, the annexation of Austria by Germany in 1938, which
ushered in the nightmare of the Holocaust for the huge number of Jews
and other victims of Nazism who lived there and in and so many other
places. Shame on those who would prefer that we forget history and forgo
our efforts to try in some small way to right the terrible wrongs
fomented in its darkest hours.
Magistrates strip more than £14k from Derby antiques dealer
MAGISTRATES in Derby have stripped more than £14,000 from an antiques
dealer who could not prove he had made the cash legitimately.
At a hearing under the Proceeds of Crime Act on Wednesday, April
10 magistrates made a forfeiture order to strip £14,185 from the
59-year-old man. He was also ordered to pay £7,232 costs.
The act gives the police the power to take offenders to court and
strip them of cash and assets if they cannot prove they have obtained
it legitimately.
The money seized is split between the Treasury and police, Court Services and the Crown Prosecution Service.
The case against the man began in February 2011, when officers
searched his antiques business in Derby and found suspected stolen items
including Royal Crown Derby.
Police also found more than £14,000 in cash at the business and the man’s home for which he had no receipts or paperwork.
The man was arrested in April 2011 on suspicion of handling stolen goods and money laundering as part of Operation Lurcher.
Operation Lurcher was an initiative to tackle the stolen goods market in the Derby area.
Warrants were executed at businesses and homes across the city
and south Derbyshire and thousands of pounds were seized under the
Proceeds of Crime Act.
No criminal charges were brought against the man by the CPS but
Derbyshire Constabulary’s Financial Investigation Unit took the case to
Southern Derbyshire Magistrates’ Court where the money was forfeited.
Detective Sergeant Craig Hughes said: “Even where no criminal
proceeds are brought against a person, if they cannot prove they had the
cash or goods legitimately we can still get them removed at court.
Man sought after antiques raid
CCTV image Credit: Cambridgeshire Police
POLICE in Ely have released an image of a man they want to speak to in connection with the theft of antique jewellery.
A display cabinet was broken into at Waterside Antiques shortly after 10am, on Friday, March 29.
Now police have released a CCTV image of a man they want to trace in connection with the theft.
Grantham court: Jail for man who aimed to sell stolen antiques
One man was jailed and another
received a suspended prison sentence for handling stolen jewellery and
antiques which they wanted to sell to make money for Christmas.
Liam Curtis, 23, of Lymn Court, Grantham, was jailed
for 16 weeks after admitting possessing stolen goods. Clive Taylor, 24,
of Thames Road, Grantham, was handed a 16-week sentence suspended for 12
months for the same offence and a two-week concurrent sentence, also
suspended, for possessing cannabis. He was also ordered to pay an £80
victim surcharge.
A third person, Sarah Taylor, admitted receiving stolen goods and was fined £70 with £85 costs and £20 victim surcharge.
Prosecuting,
Marie Stace told the court that the three were stopped in a Fiat Punto
car in Trent Road by police on November 20 last year, because they were
driving without lights.
Clive Taylor admitted he had a spliff in his hoodie which he handed to one of the officers and it was identified as cannabis.
The
police found bags containing the antiques and jewellery in the boot and
footwell of the car. The defendants told the officers they had bought
the items off a “tall ginger skaghead”.
Miss Stace said Curtis told officers the items were to be sold for scrap to get cash for Christmas.
Clive
Taylor tried to escape from the officers but was quickly caught. A ring
was later found at his address and a bag containing a camera and a GPS
tracker was found during a search of Sarah Taylor’s. These had been
stolen in a burglary in Redmile Walk.
Miss Stace told the court
that Sarah Taylor said she had bought the car on November 16 and then
found the bag containing the camera and tracker in the boot.
She
put the bag in a cupboard under the stairs at her address, intending to
take it back to the car company from which she had bought the vehicle.
Miss Stace said Taylor had never gone back to the company or made any
inquiries about the items.
Clive Taylor had said the property had
been bought for £100 and that the cannabis was for his own use. In
interview, Curtis had also said he and Clive Taylor had bought the items
for £100. The property was later returned to its owners.
Rob
Arthur, for all three defendants, said: “For Mr Taylor and Mr Curtis it
was the old adage ‘never look a gift horse in the mouth’ as this had
come back to bite them.
“They were stopped in the vehicle and accept they bought the items for £100 to try to sell them and make money for Christmas.”
He
said Sarah Taylor agreed for police to search her property and they
found the bag containing the camera and tracker which she now accepts
she was asked to look after.
Mr Arthur said: “The fact is she turned a blind eye and will face the consequences.”
Clive
Taylor and Curtis were sentenced after magistrates read probation
reports. Curtis, who suffers from attention deficit hyperactivity
disorder, had previously said it was unlikely he could complete a
community service and was prepared for a prison sentence.
Police recover stolen dolls, cologne and after-shave
RCMP say $2,000 worth of antique goods stolen in Ingomar area
The stolen goods will now be returned to their owner who no longer lives in Canada. (RCMP)
The RCMP say they’ve found $2,000 worth of antique goods that were stolen in September, 2011 in Shelburne County.
The items include 9 antique dolls and 21 antique colognes and
after-shaves. Police said they’re owned by an elderly woman who no
longer lives in Canada.
Police said the items were taken during a break in. No one has been
arrested, but police said they are “assessing intelligence” in
connection to the case.
Unusual theft from Art Gallery of Ballarat
THEFT:
Art Gallery of Ballarat director Gordon Morrison looks at the empty
spot in Alfred Deakin's desk where a decorative item used to sit.
PICTURE: JEREMY BANNISTER
A RARE decorative
object connected to Australia's second Prime Minister Alfred Deakin has
been stolen from the Art Gallery of Ballarat.
Gallery
director Gordon Morrison said the theft of the object, a small
decorative circular wooden table lid, might have resembled something
from the Da Vinci Code but it was actually worthless on its own.
The tragic thing was that its removal seriously compromised the integrity and value of the table it belonged to, he said.
"You look at (the lid) and think that could be the key to something - but its not," he said.
"It's got no monetary significance and we just want it back."
The
table was owned by Alfred Deakin, one of the fathers of the Federation,
and Federal Member for Ballarat who was Prime Minster of Australia for
three terms.
It is an example of 'treen', highly detailed and intricate micro-mosaic work in wood.
The
table's creator Frederick Edwin Strangward was known for his
mathematically intricate designs and the mosaic work on it contains more
than two million tiny pieces of wood, some of which are less than half a
millimetres thick.
Mr Morrison said he believed the theft to be a result of impulse, rather than an organised heist.
"I think it's someone on impulse has twisted it, found that it's loose and has pocketed it," he said.
"I don't think it's a criminal that has come here thinking it's a valuable object and has stolen it." An image of the missing lid.
The
rare example of Australian woodwork was given to the gallery by a
Deakin descendant in 1998 and has been on public display in the Crouch
Gallery, the room dedicated to the art of the Heidelberg School and the
Federation era.
The lid was removed sometime between 2pm on Thursday afternoon and 2pm on Saturday afternoon.
The room the table was in is covered by CCTV and tapes of the footage from those days are being examined by the Ballarat police.
"This
is an object that has no great inherent value and it is certainly not
something that would be easy to sell," Mr Morrison said.
"I would appeal to whoever has it to return this important piece of our cultural heritage."
If
anyone knows anything about its removal, they should contact Leading
Senior Constable Dana Mollison at the Ballarat police station or call
Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
Jewellery and watch theft (Glastonbury)
Image
One of the stolen watches
A reward is being offered for information leading to the
recovery of jewellery and watches worth £60,000 stolen in Glastonbury.
The
items were taken overnight from a van parked at the Travelodge in
Wirrall Park. The owners, from Cornwall, were staying there having been
to an antiques fair at the Bath and West showground.
The stolen
items include valuable watches by Rolex, Omega, Patek Philippe and
Zenith. Rings, chains, bracelets and brooches were among the jewellery
items taken.
Mobile developer convicted in stolen antiques
case pleads guilty in hunting lodge theft
View full sizeFrom left to right, Matthew Boykin
Walker, Timothy Smith and Kristopher Joseph Ambrose pleaded guilty to
federal firearms charges on Thursday, April 18, 2013, in Mobile,
Alabama. Walker, who was on probation for a 2010 receiving stolen
property charge, also faces possible prison time in state court.
MOBILE, Alabama – A developer who admitted to harboring more than $500,000 in stolen antiques and furniture pleaded guilty today to a federal gun charge involving a break-in at his uncle’s hunting camp.
According
to court records, Matthew Boykin Walker and co-defendant Timothy Smith
went to the hunting lodge in McIntosh and stole a safe. Smith, who
claims he did not know what was in the safe until they already had
removed it, also pleaded guilty today.
Smith admitted to
receiving money that was in the safe, although the defendants disagree
about how much. Smith’s attorney maintains it was $300; Walker’s lawyer
said it was $4,000.
A third man who pleaded guilty today,
Kristopher Joseph Ambrose, admitted that he ground off the serial
numbers of the 17 firearms. He pleaded guilty to possession of firearms
without serial numbers and faces up to five year in prison.
There
are other disagreements. Walker, according to defense attorney John
White, maintains that it was Smith who asked him for help removing the
safe in February. Smith’s plea agreement suggests that it was Walker who
set the theft in motion.
From a legal standpoint, it makes little
difference. Smith is guilty of possession of stolen firearms and faces
up to 10 years in prison. Walker, because of his previous conviction in
the antiques case, is a felon barred by law from having guns. He faces
the same maximum prison term.
U.S. District Judge Kristi DuBose scheduled sentencing for all three men in July.
In
an interview, White said his client brought the guns to his mother’s
house and called his uncle, Bob Boykin, to return the firearms.
“His uncle didn’t show up at the condo,” White said. “The police did.”
Walker,
63, pleaded guilty in 2010 to four counts of receiving stolen property
that included antique marble fireplace mantles, crystal bowls,
sculptures, a flat screen TV, chandeliers, a Victorian sofa and family
heirlooms passed down for generations. Investigators found the items
stashed in a pair of homes.
In 2011, Mobile County Circuit Judge Joseph “Rusty” Johnston imposed a 10-year suspended sentence and
ordered the defendant to spend three years on probation and perform 500
hours of community service. His attorney at the time described him as
extremely remorseful for his actions.
Mobile County prosecutors
have filed paperwork seeking to revoke Walker’s probation and send him
to prison. A hearing is set for next month.
White said he hopes
the judge in that case will let his client serve the prison sentence at
the same time as his federal punishment, but the attorney said he
anticipates push-back from local prosecutors.
Said Mobile County
District Attorney Ashley Rich, “We will leave it to the judge whether
it’s consecutive or concurrent time. But we will definitely seek
revocation.”
Walker comes from the prominent Boykin family and was
a fixture in elite social circles. His son was a knight in the 2008
Mardi Gras royal court of the Mobile Carnival Association.
Walker developed subdivisions in west Mobile and co-founded a Tunica, Mississippi, casino in 1992.
Law
enforcement officials found the stolen antiques and furniture at
Walker’s secluded house on Jeff Hamilton Road in west Mobile County and a
house he was renovating on Rochester Road near the University of South
Alabama.
More than 80 of the items had been stolen from a single house on Spring Hill Avenue.
The
haul from the hunting lodge was extensive: 14 shotguns, a Colt
.38-caliber revolver, a Savage .380-caliber semi-automatic pistol and a
Forehand & Wadsworth revolver, according to court records.
Art Nouveau trove to go under hammer in Switzerland
A employee of the "Hotel des Ventes" auction house presents Art
Nouveau style vases by Galle during a press preview on April 17, 2013 at
the Castle of Gingins, Western Switzerland. Nine years after an amazing
theft of 15 priceless works by glass maker Emile Galle, the rest of the
Art Nouveau collection of the Neumann family will be auctioned.
GENEVA — A decade after thieves stole a haul of Art Nouveau
glassworks in a lightning raid on an exhibition, legitimate collectors
will have a chance to bid for the remaining trove of the Swiss-based
Neumann family.
Due to go under the hammer on April 27 in the
medieval castle of Gingins, a hillside village overlooking Lake Geneva,
the 500 lots include other glassworks, furniture and paintings.
According
to Geneva's Hotel des Ventes auctioneers, who are handling next week's
sale, the estimated value is between a million and 1.5 million Swiss
francs (800,000-1.25 million euros, $1.1-1.6 million).
The sale
was organised by the heirs of Czech-born couple Lotar Neumann, who died
in 1992, and his wife Vera, who passed away earlier this year. The
castle was their home.
Born in 1918, Lotar was the son of a wealthy Jewish industrialist in Prague.
He
escaped Nazi Germany's clutches during World War II thanks to a false
identity, and in 1948 married Vera, who was eight years his junior.
The same year, a communist regime took over what was then Czechoslovakia, and the Neumanns emigrated to Venezuela.
Starting from scratch, they founded a paint and dye factory which was to make their fortune.
Nostalgic
for their European past, they had begun collecting posters of the works
of Czech Art Nouveau icon Alfons Mucha, and eventually their wealth
enabled them gradually to buy original pieces.
In 1960, the
Neumanns decided to move back to Europe, setting up home in Switzerland
and buying the Gingins castle two years later.
They continued to collect art over the ensuing decades.
Two
years after Lotar's death, Vera set up the Neumann Foundation which was
dedicated to putting their prize works in display in regular
exhibitions in the castle.
It was as such an event in October 2004
that the thieves struck, making off with 15 works by French master
glassmaker Emile Galle worth an estimated four million Swiss francs at
the time.
Among them were five of Galle's dragonfly-motif cups, made in 1904 and seen as a touchstone of the Art Nouveau movement.
The gang members -- who like the stolen artworks have never been tracked down -- took just five minutes to raid the exhibition.
The shocked Neumann Foundation decided to close its doors to the public after the robbery.
In
addition to the art up for auction, the castle is also on sale, with
unconfirmed information suggesting it has been valued at 35 million
Swiss francs.
Cocaine smuggler loses appeal against 30-year sentence
Perry Wharrie imprisoned for part in €440m Dunlough Bay drug seizure in 2007
Perry
Wharrie (53) was one of four men jailed in Ireland for their part in
the bungled Dunlough Bay drug-smuggling operation off Mizen Head in West
Cork in July 2007. Photograph: Julien Behal/PA Wire
A member of an international organised crime gang behind the largest
seizure of cocaine ever found in the State has lost his appeal against
the severity of his 30-year sentence.
Perry Wharrie (53) was one of four men jailed for their part in the bungled Dunlough Bay drug-smuggling operation off Mizen Head in West Cork in July 2007. Perrrie was jailed for 30 years.
The plan to smuggle €440 million worth of cocaine into Ireland for shipment on to the UK came unstuck when a gang member put diesel in the petrol engine of their boat.
The engine cut out and the boat was left to the mercy of the waves with
1.5 tonnes of cocaine being tossed into the choppy seas of Dunlough
Bay.
Wharrie, from Pyrles Lane, Loughton, Essex, was arrested two days later near Schull and was later charged along with three others in connection with the huge drugs haul.
He was convicted of possessing €440 million worth of cocaine for sale
or supply following a lengthy trial at Cork Circuit Criminal Court in
2008.
Judge Seán Ó Donnabháin sentenced Wharrie to 30 years in jail along with a co-accused, Martin Wanden, of no fixed abode, while Joe Daly from Bexley, Kent was jailed for 25 years.
A fourth accused, Gerard Hagan from Hollowcroft in Merseyside, pleaded guilty to his involvement in the operation and was later jailed for 10 years.
Wharrie appealed the record sentence last February at the Court of Criminal Appeal before Mr Justice MacMenamin, Mr Justice de Valera and Mr Justice McGovern.
The three-judge court set aside two days to hear Wharrie's appeal but reserved their judgment.
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Perry
Wharrie (53) was one of four men jailed in Ireland for their part in
the bungled Dunlough Bay drug-smuggling operation off Mizen Head in West
Cork in July 2007. Photograph: Julien Behal/PA Wire
