Two detained in Paris in connection with theft of Banksy drawings

Two men were taken into custody earlier this week as part of the investigation into the theft of a drawing by the street-artist Banksy that was stenciled on a wall in the centre of Paris. The drawing was stolen in September.

Two men aged 32 and 35 were arrested in the Paris region Tuesday morning, according to reports by the French news agency AFP.

They were placed in police custody as part of the investigation opened by the Paris prosecutor's office on September 3 following the theft of a Banksy stencil near the Georges-Pompidou Center for Art and Culture (The Beaubourg Center).

An investigating judge will now decide whether the two will be placed under formal investigation.

A number of Banksy's works were seized during the searches. They still need to be assessed in order to know whether they are originals or copies. The work that stolen near the Pompidou center has not been found.

The British artist, who keeps his identity secret but is one of the most highly regarded in his community, posted a number of drawing across Paris in in June 2018 containing capital content.

He claimed authorship of eight works on his Instagram account, including a variation of the painting "Napoleon crossing the Alps" by Jacques-Louis David, a sad-faced silhouette of a young girl on the door of the Bataclan venue in Paris where 90 people were massacred in a terrorist attack in November 2015, and a small masked muzzle rat brandishing a pencil (or a cutter), near the Center Pompidou.

The stencil of the rat on the back entrance of a parking lot which was stolen the night of September 1 last. At the time, the Pompidou center had filed a complaint "for theft and damage, within a space within its perimeter".

Two men were taken into custody earlier this week as part of the investigation into the theft of a drawing by the street-artist Banksy that was stenciled on a wall in the centre of Paris. The drawing was stolen in September.

Two men aged 32 and 35 were arrested in the Paris region Tuesday morning, according to reports by the French news agency AFP.

They were placed in police custody as part of the investigation opened by the Paris prosecutor's office on September 3 following the theft of a Banksy stencil near the Georges-Pompidou Center for Art and Culture (The Beaubourg Center).

An investigating judge will now decide whether the two will be placed under investigation.

A number of Banksy's works were seized during the searches. They still need to be assessed in order to know whether they are originals or copies. The work that stolen near the Pompidou center has not been found.

The British artist, who keeps his identity secret but is one of the most highly regarded in his community, posted a number of drawing across Paris in in June 2018 containing capital content.

He claimed authorship of eight works on his Instagram account, including a variation of the painting Napoleon crossing the Alps by Jacques-Louis David, a sad-faced silhouette of a young girl on the door of the Bataclan venue in Paris where 90 people were massacred in a terrorist attack in November 2015, and a small masked muzzle rat brandishing a pencil (or a cutter), near the Center Pompidou.

stencil of the rat on the back entrance of a parking lot which was stolen the night of September 1 last. At the time, the Pompidou center had filed a complaint "for theft and damage, within a space within its perimeter".