2023-12-24 17:49:22
London police announced a second arrest on Sunday following the disappearance of a work by Banksy, taken away in front of stunned witnesses barely after being claimed by the enigmatic British artist.
The work, three aircraft that appear to be combat drones on a stop sign, appeared on Friday morning at a crossroads in the Peckham district of southeast London.
Stolen less than an hour after authentication
The artist quickly posted a photo of his work on his account Instagrama means by which he usually authenticates his achievements.
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Less than an hour later, witnesses filmed a man, perched on a bicycle, dismantling the panel using cutting pliers, with the help of another man. The video which made the rounds on social networks then shows him running off with the work.
Arrest for “theft and damage”
After arresting a man in his twenties on Saturday, London’s Metropolitan Police said on Sunday that they had taken a forty-year-old into custody on suspicion of “theft and damage”.
The first arrested was released under judicial supervision pending further investigation procedures expected in mid-March.
Research underway to recover the panel
The London police initially indicated that they had not received any reports regarding the disappearance of the work.
But Southwark City Council, responsible in particular for signage in this area, said on Friday evening that it wished to recover the sign and had reported the incident to the police.
Police have urged “anyone who may have information about the incident or the whereabouts of the sign” to contact them.
Recurring flights
Several works by Banksy, which sometimes fetch millions of euros at auction, have already been stolen in the past, including a door from the Parisian Bataclan hall, which paid tribute to the victims of the November 13 attacks.
Others have been compromised, like a mural denouncing domestic violence, depicting a housewife having a 1950s or 1960s look, disfigured by a black eye and a broken tooth, while a man’s legs protrude from a real old horizontal freezer propped against the wall.
The freezer was quickly removed for safety reasons, confusing the understanding of the work, before being reinstalled.
Multi-million euro works
The ephemeral nature of the works is sometimes desired by Banksy himself when in 2018, “The Girl with the Balloon” partially self-destructed in the middle of an auction, causing astonishment.
The artist intended to denounce the “commodification” of art through this performance. But the price of the self-destructed work, renamed “Love is in the Trash”, was almost multiplied by 20 during a sale three years later, exceeding 20 million euros.
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