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South Africa art stolen from Pretoria museum recovered | South Africa art stolen from Pretoria museum recovered |
(35 minutes later) | |
Four of the five paintings that were stolen from a museum in the South African capital, Pretoria, have been found at a cemetery, police have said. | Four of the five paintings that were stolen from a museum in the South African capital, Pretoria, have been found at a cemetery, police have said. |
A tip-off led police to the cemetery in the coastal city of Port Elizabeth, 1,100km (700 miles away), a spokesman said. | A tip-off led police to the cemetery in the coastal city of Port Elizabeth, 1,100km (700 miles away), a spokesman said. |
Three gunmen stole the paintings, worth $2m (£1.25m), on Sunday from the Pretoria Art Museum. | Three gunmen stole the paintings, worth $2m (£1.25m), on Sunday from the Pretoria Art Museum. |
Police said they have not yet made any arrests. | Police said they have not yet made any arrests. |
Museum shut | |
They are still searching for an oil painting by local artist Gerard Sekoto, Brig Marinda Mills said. | They are still searching for an oil painting by local artist Gerard Sekoto, Brig Marinda Mills said. |
Four other paintings by South African artists, including the world-renowned Irma Stern, were recovered from under a bench at the cemetery, she added. | |
They include Stern's Fishing Boats, Maggie Laubser's Cat and Petunias, JH Pierneef's Eland and Bird and Hugo Naude's Hottentot Chief. | |
Checks were being done to make sure the recovered paintings were the originals, Brig Mills said, the South African Press Association reports. | |
"Verification of the art must still be done, but from a layman's view it appears to be the same pieces that were taken in Pretoria," she is quoted as saying. | |
Brig Mills said the paintings were discovered by a member of the police dog unit at a small cemetery behind a church. | |
"Police forensic and crime scene experts are still combing the area," she is quoted as saying. | |
The theft led to the closure of the museum, as officials looked at improving its security. | |
The robbers paid to enter the museum on Sunday, before holding up staff and escaping with the paintings. | |
They left behind another Stern oil painting, of musicians, because it did not fit in their getaway car, AFP news agency reports. | |
The video surveillance cameras at the museum had stopped working on Thursday, Pretoria city spokesman Pieter de Necker is quoted by AFP as saying. |