Armed thieves steal valuable art works in Switzerland 11/02/2008 00:00

The heist is the second in less than a week.

Zurich -- Armed thieves made off with a number of valuable paintings in what could be Switzerland's biggest-ever art heist, investigators confirmed Monday. It is the second major art theft in the country in four days.

A number of pictures including works by Paul Cezanne, Edgar Degas, Claude Monet and Vincent van Gogh worth an estimated 100 million francs (91 million dollars) were stolen Sunday from a museum in Zurich.

Police have not yet revealed the exact location but it was said to be in the same district as the celebrated Emil Buehrle collection which contains 200 works including Impressionist paintings and sculptures collected by the industrialist during the first half of the 20th Century and later opened to the public.

Last Thursday, thieves stole two Picasso's on loan from a collection in Hanover, Germany to an exhibition at the Seedamm- Kulturzentrum in Pfaeffikon not far from Zurich in central Switzerland.

The works Tete de Cheval (1962) and Verre et Pichet (1944) were worth an estimated 4 million dollars.

Police have not ruled out the theory that the thefts may be linked.

DPA with Expatica