4 paintings worth €9 million 'stolen' from French museum

Marseille, AFP - Two thieves stole four paintings from the Renoir Museum in the city of Cannes-sur-Mer early this morning, but were forced to leave two of them behind during their escape, according to the mayor of the city in southeastern France.

Brian Maisonneuve, the mayor of the city where the Impressionist painter Auguste Renoir spent his final years, said, “The two thieves were spotted thanks to the city’s surveillance cameras, but they fled and left one of the stolen paintings behind.” Maisonneuve estimated the value of the stolen paintings at nine million euros.

He explained that “the museum’s alarm sounded at 5:48 a.m. (3:48 a.m. GMT). At 5:53 a.m., just five minutes later, municipal police arrived at the scene,” emphasizing that “the attack on the Renoir Museum is an attack on a part of the history of Cannes-sur-Mer. These acts are extremely serious.”

This theft comes about a year after the famous robbery at the Louvre Museum in Paris. Last October, thieves broke into the Louvre in broad daylight and escaped in less than eight minutes with jewelry valued at $102 million.