Two men have been arrested and charged with burglary for stealing a painting by the popular artist Banksy earlier this week in London.
James Love, 53, and Larry Fraser, 47, were in police custody Friday following their alleged smash-and-grab theft of Banksy’s artwork “Girl With Balloon”.
“A Banksy painting entitled ‘Girl with Balloon’ was the only item stolen,” Metropolitan Police said in a statement. “This has now been recovered and will be returned to the gallery.”
The masked duo allegedly broke through the front door of Grove Gallery on Sunday night and grabbing the painting. The incident was captured on video surveillance, which was used to identify and arrest the two on Wednesday.
The image, which was valued at $355,000 by court documents, was originally drawn on a wall in East London in 2004 and quickly became one of the anonymous artist’s best-known images.
A reproduction, entitled “Love is in the Bin, sold for $1.4 million at a 2018 Sotheby’s auction after the artist partially put the painting through a paper shredder. The damaged print later sold for a record $25.4 million.
Banksy’s works have created public interest and controversy for the unknown artist. Painting on public buildings and spaces since the 1990s, his works have been the target of attempted thefts and cleanup campaigns.
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