SAO PAULO - Brazilian police Tuesday recovered two valuable paintings by Pablo Picasso and Candido Portinari that were stolen last month from the Sao Paulo Museum of Art and made two arrests, police officials told AFP.
The two canvasses, valued together at 56 million dollars, were found in Sao Paulo and taken to the police's Organized Crime Investigation Department, the spokesmen said without giving a precise location or saying where the suspects were arrested.
The works of art are "Portrait of Suzanne Bloch" by Pablo Picasso, estimated to be worth 50 million dollars, and "The Coffee Worker" by Brazil's Candido Portinari, estimated at nearly six million dollars. Neither was insured.
The police announcement came only hours after the head of the special police unit in charge of fighting organized crime said the paintings had likely been whisked out of the country for sale in clandestine art markets.
Museum and police officials said the December 20 robbery was professional, carried out to order, with the two paintings removed from their separate rooms in less than four minutes while the guards were elsewhere.
Three thieves used a car jack and a crowbar to gain entry into the building, while another stood watch outside, relaying information by cellphone. The tools and telephone were left behind at the scene, they said.
Security cameras in the museum showed the three thieves going about their operation.
The robbery was filmed by security cameras in the museum hall which lacked alarm or sensor systems, they added.
Security inside and outside the museum has been improved since the robbery, museum and police officials said.
Picasso's painting is considered one of the top works on display in the museum, and is especially valuable because it is one of the relatively rare examples from the late Spaniard's "blue" period.
Portinari's "O Lavrador de Cafe" is also highly prized, seen as his best neo-realist work exhibiting the social analyses at the heart of his art.
