Stolen paintings found
The Hague - Dutch authorities said on Saturday they had recovered eight 17th and 19th century paintings by such masters as Pissarro and Renoir that had been missing for over 20 years, and arrested three people.
"Some of the art works had been folded and were seriously damaged," said a statement from the prosecuting authority.
The paintings had gone missing from an art gallery in Maastricht near the Belgian border in 1987.
Having received information that the works had been put up for sale, police found six of the paintings in Valkenburg in the south of the country on Thursday.
A subsequent house search in the small, southern town of Walem yielded another two.
Value to be determined
Police arrested a 45-year-old German man, resident in Dubai, his 62-year-old Belgian mother, and a 66-year-old man from Walem.
"The suspects were apparently trying to sell the artworks to the insurance company that had paid out 2.27 million euros (about 2.8 million dollars) after they went missing," the statement said.
The modern-day value of the paintings had yet to be determined.
The works were by 17th century painters David Teniers (Flemish), Willem van de Velde and Jan Brueghel de Jonge (both Dutch), as well as 19th century French artists Eva Gonzales, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Camille Pissarro and Paul Desire Trouillebert.
"The investigation has yet to determine where the paintings have been for more than 20 years," said the statement.
The suspects will appear before a court on Monday.
The Hague - Dutch authorities said on Saturday they had recovered eight 17th and 19th century paintings by such masters as Pissarro and Renoir that had been missing for over 20 years, and arrested three people.
"Some of the art works had been folded and were seriously damaged," said a statement from the prosecuting authority.
The paintings had gone missing from an art gallery in Maastricht near the Belgian border in 1987.
Having received information that the works had been put up for sale, police found six of the paintings in Valkenburg in the south of the country on Thursday.
A subsequent house search in the small, southern town of Walem yielded another two.
Value to be determined
Police arrested a 45-year-old German man, resident in Dubai, his 62-year-old Belgian mother, and a 66-year-old man from Walem.
"The suspects were apparently trying to sell the artworks to the insurance company that had paid out 2.27 million euros (about 2.8 million dollars) after they went missing," the statement said.
The modern-day value of the paintings had yet to be determined.
The works were by 17th century painters David Teniers (Flemish), Willem van de Velde and Jan Brueghel de Jonge (both Dutch), as well as 19th century French artists Eva Gonzales, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Camille Pissarro and Paul Desire Trouillebert.
"The investigation has yet to determine where the paintings have been for more than 20 years," said the statement.
The suspects will appear before a court on Monday.
Art Hostage comments:
The German accused represented himself to Zuidema, who was working for the insurance company, as a private detective who could recover the stolen Noortman paintings last year in a phone call from Frankfurt Germany.
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He tried to get Zuidema to conspire with him to extort money from the Noortman estate or the insurance company to the tune of five million euros.
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Zuidema went straight to Police and the sting operation began.
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Zuidema then said he could get 1 million euros and negotiations followed until the German flew in from his home in Dubai and the net result is the recovery of the stolen Noortman paintings from the German's mother's house.-
Historically, the original theft from Robert Noortman was an inside job and it will be interesting to see how close this German was to the late Robert Noortman. Being one of the elite Robert Noortman was paid out by the insurance company even though suspitions and evidence pointed to the fact Robert Noortman had organised the theft against himself for the insurance money.
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From the moment the German tried to extort money rather than help in the recovery of the stolen art there was no possibility that any reward would, or could be paid lawfully.
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Funny enough the subject of Frankfurt came recently !
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Opinions, although not specific, were requested, not given.
Anyway, this is yet another case of people trying to profit from handing back stolen art without using the right resources and following the law.
When will people learn that there is only one way to hand back stolen art and get paid, quite lawfully, a reward plus expenses incurred during the recovery process.
Art Hostage will reveal this method later.
I am sure Robert Noortman may allow himself a smile as he observes this successful recovery from on high, having got away with the crime in life.
More to follow...........................
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Benny Boy in line for a reward ???
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It seems Ben Zuidema ticked all the boxes and fully co-operated with Police, so it will be interesting to see how much reward money Benny Boy Zuidema receives ???
2 comments:
Word is that Radcliffe located the works,arranged and facilitated the sting. A journalist mate of mine says there is much more to this story than meets the eye. Be careful what you write until you hear the complete tale.
Is Michel Van Rijn inviolved ???
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