Serbs Recover Stolen $100M Cezanne

Four busted for 2008 art heist
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 12, 2012 11:30 PM CDT
Updated Apr 13, 2012 12:55 AM CDT
Serbs Recover Stolen $100M Cezanne
A Serbian police officer points his gun at a suspected art robber in Belgrade yesterday.   (AP Photo/Serbian Interior Ministry/AP Video)

Police in Serbia have recovered a masterpiece by Paul Cezanne four years after it was stolen from a Swiss museum in one of Europe's biggest-ever art heists. Four men were arrested as they tried to sell Boy in the Red Vest, which was worth more than $100 million when it was stolen, CBS reports. The thieves planned to sell the painting to a wealthy Serb for $3.5 million, according to investigators.

"Of course, they could not sell the painting for its real price," Serbia's interior minister said at a press conference. "It's amazing standing besides this masterpiece." The Swiss museum has certified that the painting is the original. Two other paintings stolen in the 2008 heist, a Monet and a Van Gogh, were found undamaged in a parking lot soon after the robbery, while a fourth, an $11 million Degas, is still missing. (Read more Cezanne stories.)

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