Norway: 2 arrested in connection with 2009 Munch art heist

COPENHAGEN – Two men have been arrested in connection with the 2009 theft of a valuable work by Edvard Munch from an Oslo art dealer, Norwegian police said Wednesday.

Police spokeswoman Unni Groendal said the men are suspected of handling stolen goods and face a pre-trial detention hearing later Wednesday. She said they were arrested Monday and Tuesday in Oslo but were not suspected of carrying out the theft itself.

The men were not identified but Norwegian media said they were well-known to police and have criminal records.

Groendal added the hand-colored Munch lithography “Historien,” or “History,” was recovered Monday but declined to elaborate.

Printed in 1914, the lithograph was stolen on Nov. 12, 2009, from Nyborgs Kunst in Oslo after one of the dealership’s windows was smashed with a rock. Gallery owner Pascal Nyborg told the Norwegian news agency NTB the lithograph is estimated to be worth about 2 million kroner.

The Norwegian artist’s work has been a popular target for art thieves.

The most notorious theft was in 2004 when gunmen stole the masterpieces “The Scream” and “Madonna” in a brazen midday raid on Oslo’s Munch Museum.

Another version of “The Scream” — Munch painted several — was taken from Norway’s National Gallery in 1994 by two thieves who left behind a postcard that read “Thanks for the poor security.” One of the thieves had previously served a four-year sentence for the theft of Munch’s “The Vampire” in 1988.

All of the artworks have been recovered and lax museum security upgraded.