Chagall painting recovered 30 years after theft from a New York couple's apartment

The oil painting, which shows Othello gazing at a sleeping Desdemona, was recovered last year after a man in the eastern state of Maryland contacted the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Photo: FBI.

WASHINGTON (AFP).- A painting by Marc Chagall stolen 30 years ago from a New York couple's apartment has been recovered and is being returned to the family's estate, the FBI said Thursday. The 1911 painting, "Othello and Desdemona," was stolen in 1988 along with other works of art -- by Renoir, Picasso and Hopper -- from the Manhattan home of Ernest and Rose Heller, the FBI said in a statement.

The oil painting, which shows Othello gazing at a sleeping Desdemona, was recovered last year after a man in the eastern state of Maryland contacted the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The FBI said the Maryland man got in touch with law enforcement after a failed effort to consign the painting to an art gallery in Washington. The gallery owner was "suspicious about the lack of paperwork supporting the painting's authenticity and provenance," the FBI said.

The Maryland man obtained the painting in the late 1980s or early 1990s from the man who stole it from the Heller's apartment, the FBI said. "It was an inside job," said special agent Marc Hess of the FBI's Art Crime Team. "A person who had regular access to the building was stealing from apartments while the tenants were away." "(The Hellers) went on vacation back in 1988," Hess said. "They returned, and this work of art -- along with several others -- was missing."

The FBI said the Maryland man kept the painting stashed in a makeshift box in his attic for years. It said no charges would be filed against him or the man who stole the painting because the statute of limitations has expired. The FBI said the Hellers, who bought the painting in the 1920s, have both died and their estate plans to put the art work up for auction.

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New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art returns stolen idols to Nepal

An 11th-century statue of the deity Shiva, known as the Uma Maheshwor idol, that was returned to Nepal from New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, is pictured in its delivery crate at the Department of Archaeology in Kathmandu on April 4, 2018. A pair of rare idols stolen from Nepal three decades ago were returned to the country April 4 by New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art. The two statues -- one of the Buddha and the other of the Hindu god Shiva and his wife Parvati -- were stolen from Nepal in the 1980s when rampant looting saw many important artifacts whisked out of the country and into the hand of private collectors. Gopen RAI / AFP.

KATHMANDU (AFP).- A pair of rare idols stolen from Nepal three decades ago were returned to the country Wednesday by New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art. The two statues -- one of Buddha and the other of the Hindu god Shiva and his wife Parvati -- were stolen in the 1980s when rampant looting saw many important artifacts whisked out of Nepal and into the hands of private collectors.

"The government was unaware of the whereabouts of the statues until historian Lain Singh Bangdel mentioned (in a book) that the statues were on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York," Shyam Sundar Rajbanshi of Nepal's Department of Archaeology told AFP. The 11th-century Shiva statue, known as the Uma Maheshwor idol, was given to the Met in 1983 while the Buddha -- estimated to be around 700 years old -- was donated by a private collector in 2015.

The two statues were removed from display after the Met learned they were stolen, local media reported. The statues will now be showcased at the National Museum of Nepal in the capital Kathmandu, Rajbanshi confirmed.

Nepal's rich cultural heritage was ravaged by decades of theft from the 1960s to 1980s. Natural disasters and unchecked development also encroached on ancient sites. A devastating earthquake in April 2015 caused extensive damage in the Kathmandu Valley, home to hundreds of sacred Buddhist and Hindu sites.

The UN's cultural agency UNESCO warned if not properly conserved those sites could lose their coveted world heritage status.

A 700-year-old standing statue of the Buddha, that was returned to Nepal from New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, is pictured in its delivery crate at the Department of Archaeology in Kathmandu on April 4, 2018. A pair of rare idols stolen from Nepal three decades ago were returned to the country April 4 by New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art. The two statues -- one of the Buddha and the other of the Hindu god Shiva and his wife Parvati -- were stolen from Nepal in the 1980s when rampant looting saw many important artifacts whisked out of the country and into the hand of private collectors. Gopen RAI / AFP.

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Antiques looted in Libya by IS sold in Spain, two experts arrested

Officers seized "numerous works of art", including seven mosaics and a sarcophagus. Photo: Policia Nacional Ministerio del Interior.

MADRID.- Two Spanish art experts suspected of running a ring that sold antiques looted from archaeological sites in Libya by groups linked to the Islamic State group have been arrested, police said Wednesday. Officers seized "numerous works of art", including seven mosaics and a sarcophagus, during raids carried out in five locations in Barcelona and the nearby town of Argentona as part of their operation, police said in a statement.

The works were stolen from archaeological sites in Libya's eastern coastal region of Cyrenaica and northern region of Tripolitania, which are home to some of the finest Roman and Greek ruins in existence. The two men who were arrested as part of the operation are both Spanish nationals aged 31 who are experts in ancient art.

Police said one of the men appeared regularly on TV to discuss ancient art and even took part in several academic conferences that discussed the destruction of historical sites by the Islamic State group. "They led a network that illegally bought works looted from archaeological sites by groups linked to the terrorist group Daesh, helping to finance its activities," police said in a statement, using the Arabic acronym for Islamic State. "Some of the pieces also showed imperfections, bumps and marks that indicated they underwent a violent extraction from the subsoil, without the use of adequate archaeological techniques," it added.

The two men are accused of selling the works, dubbed "blood antiques" on the black market according to Spanish police, at a gallery they run in Barcelona. They face charges of membership in a criminal organisation, document falsification, smuggling and financing terrorism. Spanish police said they sought the help of Libyan authorities to verify the authenticity of the works.

Conflict has left Libya with competing governments, hampering both national and international conservation efforts. UNESCO in 2016 added five of its World Heritage sites in Libya to its "World Heritage in Danger" list last year.

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