France:Armed robbers have stolen four priceless works of art - including a Monet - in a brazen daylight raid on a French museum.
A gang of masked men walked into the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Nice and ordered staff to lie on the floor at gunpoint while they snatched the paintings. They removed five canvases but dropped and damaged one as they made their escape.
Monet's Falaises près de Dieppe(Cliffs near Dieppe) and an 1890 work by Alfred Sisley, Allée des peupliers de Moret(The Lane of Poplars at Moret) were taken. Two paintings by Jan Brueghel the Elder, Allégorie de L'Eau(Allegory of Water) and Allégorie de la Terre(Allegory of Earth), were also taken.
It was the second time the Monet had been stolen and the third time for the Sisley. Both were taken from the same museum in 1998 but discovered a week later on a boat moored at a nearby town. The museum's then curator was convicted of the theft and jailed for five years along with two accomplices.
The Sisley was also stolen in 1978 when on loan in Marseille. It was recovered a few days later in the city's sewers.
Police said there were four or five robbers involved in the theft, which took place at 1pm on Sunday. Investigators believe the paintings, described as of "inestimable value" by the museum, were almost certainly stolen by "special order" and destined for a private collection.
Monique Bailet, the museum's assistant curator, said: "One of the staff members on the first floor said the men ordered him to lie on the floor as they put the paintings in bags. They wanted to take a fifth but weren't able to."
The Nice museum has a collection of art spanning four centuries. It is celebrated for its fine impressionist and post-impressionist works and also has sculptures by Rodin and ceramics by Picasso. The Brueghels belonged to the museum while the Sisley and the Monet came from the Musée d'Orsay in Paris.
The French culture minister, Christine Albanel, expressed "indignation and sadness" at the theft.
- (Guardian service)