Buyer theory in paintings theft described as folklore

EXPERTS involved in the investigation of stolen art here have described as folklore the idea that those behind the theft of The Scream have a buyer prepared to pay millions to view the piece at leisure in a darkened basement.

Investigators said the experience of the aftermath of major art thefts in Ireland reveals the huge difficulties of trying to offload or use as leverage priceless paintings.

Most of the paintings taken in a series of thefts from Russborough House in Co Wicklow were recovered, bar a couple from the very earliest raids in the 1970s. Those taken in 2002 were found in the attic of a middle-aged couple’s house in west Dublin.

One garda source pointed to the experience of Martin Cahill and his gang after they raided Russborough.

Cahill spent a great deal of fruitless energy trying to offload the paintings, tried unsuccessfully to use them as leverage in various deals - including with loyalist paramilitaries - and is said to have regretted ever becoming involved with the art heist.

Edvard Munch’s The Scream is priceless and not even insured against theft, though experts were still able to be quoted as putting a value on it of anywhere between €30m and €100m.

The garda source, after dismissing as folklore the possibility of a hermetic billionaire art lover wanting to buy off the two armed robbers, also said they would have difficulty using it as collateral in a drug or other underworld deal.

“I don’t know about collateral: collateral has to be worth something and if you have a painting that is priceless and cannot be sold, then that’s not much collateral,” he said. There have been instances where famous paintings have been stolen, held in bank vaults for 20 years and then simply handed back.

The only other way of making money is through a reward put up by an insurance company or a ransom.

There are question marks over the professionalism of the two armed robbers who stole Munch’s masterpiece.

They ran in waving handguns, ripped The Scream and the Madonna from the walls, possibly damaging them and then fled in full view of cameras. A car was also recovered later.

Norwegian police have launched a man and treasure hunt.