A blatant heist shot on video during the leading global art fair

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A man who attended an art show in Europe on Tuesday disrupted a large gathering of fine art buyers and sellers in the Netherlands after he was swimming outside and smashed the screen with quiet focus. He was looking at the window in front of everyone who was curious.

The video, shot by someone standing in the room, which had a huge impact on social media, shows how he got to the screen to win the prize. The man apparently approaches the thief threatening him with a vase of flowers, but he seems to change his mind to try when an accomplice seems to run away with a gun.

In a matter of seconds, the hammer train and the other three, without moving as fast as the sound of an alarm, took everything they had taken and started running. A white-haired man in a light suit watches the shot away from his feet, crossing his legs like a work of art, facing out as the crew vanishes at an angle.

Dutch authorities later said they arrested two Belgian suspects after robbing jewelry in Maastricht, the main international art market, on Tuesday. The European Fine Arts Foundation’s annual Dutch market heist, showcasing 7,000 years of fine art that attracts curators and art dealers from around the world, has halted in its first solo iteration since March 2020.

Investigations continue for two other suspects.

Limburg state police said they received a report of armed robbery at a TEFAF market at 11:30 local time. Police said no one was injured in the robbery and that “the robbers seized the property.”

Police then arrested two Belgians, aged 22 and 26, on the Maastricht motorway. “Their possible involvement is still under investigation,” the note read. “The search for other suspects continues”

Police said the robbery took place at a jewelry fair and the thieves took the jewelry. “At the moment no further details on the loot have been released,” the note read.

Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf reported that thieves ransacked the window of London-based jeweler Symbolic & Chase, which mainly sells 20th-century European items that can sell for tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars. A jeweler reached by phone in London on Tuesday said he had no information on the robbery and learned of the incident from reporters.

A video posted on social media shows a man wearing khakis, a sport jacket, black gloves and a flat hat allegedly trespassing in an attempt to join at least one other similarly dressed gunman standing guard. . their customs made a comparison Online for those worn by characters from the British series “Peaky Blinders” on a street gang in England in the years after the First World War.

TEFAF is recognized as the best exhibition in the world of secular art. This year’s event in Maastricht – the first since the market was forced to close in early March 2020 after an exhibition test on Coronavirus – invited around 250 gallery owners from 20 countries to present thousands of years of art. .

The market, which opens on Fridays, is piecemeal presented, including a painting by late 15th-century Venetian artist Vitor Karpacho, a 13th-century Japanese sculpture, and a 6th-century BC mask. museums around the world, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the British Museum, and the Louvre, have come to study and shop for six- and seven-figure art.

Robert Van Ham, director of the Jaski Gallery in Amsterdam, said he was on the other side of the market at the time of the robbery. “We’ve seen some people running, walking pretty fast,” he told the Washington Post. “We think that on the other side of the market they were shooting, so we ran outside, everyone rushed to the exit of the ambulance.” The evacuees waited 45 minutes before returning to the scene.

This, he said, was the first major art heist that Van Ham has personally encountered in more than 30 years of business. “He was pretty aggressive,” he said.

Christopher Marinello, CEO and founder of Art Recovery International, an organization specializing in the recovery of stolen and looted works of art, said the robbery was “absolutely shocking to me”.

“It is a very civilized fair with excellent security and above all it is shocking that someone could disrupt the market in this way and unintentionally enter the market and firearms,” said TEFAF. “It just shows that this theft is getting more brazen and more violent.”

Marinello said he initially thought the episode was a work of art or an act of protest. “But now it looks like we’re talking about really stupid thieves or really violent criminals,” he said, adding that theft is a “major security concern.”

In a statement from TEFAF Maastricht, it was stated that the market was cleared late Tuesday morning “due to an event in the market”.

“The market security teams were working quickly to disarm the criminals and the Dutch police arrived on the scene within minutes. “No one was injured in the accident,” the note reads. “Strict safety procedures were followed at the fair and all visitors were successfully evacuated.”

“TEFAF has strict procedures in the event of security breaches,” the statement said. “It was under full surveillance and all visitors, exhibitors and staff were safely evacuated. The market is now open. TEFAF and MECC are currently working with the authorities: no further announcements will be made. “

Police said Maastricht’s main engine tunnel and many roads in and around the city were closed for investigation. Later on Tuesday, police said they arrested two suspects who were driving a gray car with a Belgian license plate on the southern motorway. Police found a helicopter and dogs during the search.

The images shared on Twitter by the Dutch Public Works Authority appear to show the surroundings of a police car parked in the middle of a motorway. Police said the tunnel and highway reopened in the afternoon.

Vanwege is a political operation # A2 The right thing happened in the Koning Willem Alexander tunnel. Het nog onduidelijk hoe lang dit zal duren. pic.twitter.com/4oEI28RUCI

– Rijkswaterstaat Verkeersinformatie (@RWSverkeersinfo) June 28, 2022

Police said investigations were ongoing and “focused on finding suspects”. It is not known whether the authorities found the stolen property.

Marinello said it’s easier to get rid of a jewelry theft than to steal a painting, for example, because diamonds and gold can be melted down and reused. “Gems are very difficult to track,” he said. It is also easy to maintain; “Even if the thieves are caught, the parts may not be found,” he said.

Meanwhile, the show continues: the market has reopened and will last until Wednesday, according to the organizers.

At least so far, the robbery is a marketing perk for Van Ham, who works for the European CoBrA movement. After news of the theft surfaced, Van Ham said customers had texted him and eventually agreed to see him on the show.

Source: Washington Post

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