Athens: Greek police said they had recovered two paintings in the 20th century Master Pablo Picasso and Piet Mondrian, almost a decade after their theft from the largest country art gallery in Athens.
A Monday night statement said the two works were in the hands of the police, but did not provide details about their condition and on whether there was an arrest had been carried out.
The painting was stripped of their frame during well-organized theft in the National Art Gallery on January 9, 2012.
Thieves also took the pen and image of the ink of religious scenes by the 16th century painter Italia Gugcia Gugcia.
They initially won the fourth job, also by Mondrian, but left him when they escaped.
The police said at that time heist finished in about seven minutes.
Picasso stolen was a bust of cabbage women who had been contributed by Spanish painters to Greece in 1949 with dedication “in respect for Greeks” for their resistance to the Nazi German occupation forces during World War II.
The thieves also took representational oil paintings 1905 from a riverside windmill by Mondrian, Dutch painter who became famous for him, abstract linear works.
Greek police restored Picasso, Mondrian work was stolen in 2012
