Interpol issues alerts after €100m Paris art theft

Interpol has stepped in to provide assistance in solving the Paris art theft mystery.

The agency is alerting its national bureaux around the world to the theft.

“This is a big theft, that is very clear,” said Stephane Thefo, a specialist at Interpol who handles international art theft investigation. “These works are of an inestimable value.”

He doubted that one person could have pulled off the theft alone, even if only one person was caught on camera.

A single masked intruder was caught on a video surveillance camera entering the museum by a window and taking the paintings away, the Paris prosecutor's said.

The paintings were “Le pigeon aux petits-pois” (The Pigeon with the Peas) by Picasso, “Pastoral” by Matisse, “Olive Tree near Estaque” by Braque, “Woman with a Fan” by Modigliani and “Still Life with Chandeliers” by Leger.

The paintings are worth at least €100m.

Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoe said he was “saddened and shocked by this theft, which is an intolerable attack on Paris’ universal cultural heritage.”