Fifth suspect held over theft of Munch masterpieces

Norwegian police have arrested a fifth suspect in the theft of Edvard Munch’s masterpieces The Scream and Madonna and said they may be closer to recovering the priceless paintings.

A man in his 20s was arrested in Oslo yesterday, and is suspected of being one of three armed robbers who snatched the paintings from an Oslo museum in a brazen daytime raid last August, police spokesman Morten Hojem Ervik said.

Hojem Ervik said police have received dozens of recent tips about where the paintings may be hidden, after the city of Oslo on Wednesday offered a reward of 2 million kroner (€254,000) for the return of the paintings.

“Our investigation is moving forward, and we’re still optimistic that we will get the paintings back,” Hojem Ervik said.

He declined to say whether one of the tips had led to yesterday’s arrest.

The man is the fifth suspect arrested in connection with the theft, and the second accused of participating in the actual robbery. All five arrests have come since March 8.

The paintings were stolen on August 22 from the city-owned Munch Museum, and are among the Norwegian painter’s best known works. The Scream, which shows a figure apparently screaming or listening to a scream, has become a 20th century icon of human anxiety. There are three other versions of the painting.