Report: Swiss police find paintings stolen in Zurich art heist

18 February 2008

ZURICH – A Swiss radio station reported Monday that paintings stolen in one of Europe’s largest art thefts have been discovered on the grounds of a Zurich mental hospital.

The area around the Psychiatric University Clinic was closed off Monday evening, and Zurich police spokeswoman Judith Hoedl said that a suspicious vehicle had been found.

She declined to say whether it was connected with the February 10 robbery from a Zurich museum. The stolen works by Cezanne, Degas, van Gogh and Monet from the private EG Buehrle Collection are worth CHF180 million.

Local radio station Radio 24 reported Monday that the building supervisor at the hospital found the paintings in an unlocked car on the grounds of the clinic.

The station said the area was cordoned off by police, and a switchboard operator confirmed to The Associated Press that the police were there, but that she was not allowed to say what was happening.

A witness told Radio 24 that paintings removed from the vehicle had markings that identified them as belonging to the Buehrle museum.