Video shows sledgehammer used in van Gogh theft at Singer Laren Museum near Amsterdam - ABC News

All it took was a few sturdy swings with a sledgehammer and a prized painting by Vincent van Gogh was gone.

Key points:

• The painting was stolen on March 30 2020, as the museum was closed under coronavirus lockdowns
• Footage of the burglary was broadcast on a Dutch true-crime television series in the hopes it would generate leads for police
• Dutch police say 56 new tips were recorded after the show aired

A Dutch crime-busting television show aired security camera footage showing how an art thief smashed their way through reinforced glass doors at the Singer Laren Museum in Laren, east of Amsterdam, in the early hours of March 30.

The assailant later hurried out through the museum gift shop with a van Gogh painting tucked under their right arm and the sledgehammer in the left hand.

Police hope that publicising the images will help them track down the thief who stole van Gogh's "The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen in Spring 1884" from the Singer Laren Museum while it was shut down due to coronavirus containment measures.

Nobody has been arrested in the theft and the painting, which was on loan from another Dutch museum, the Groninger Museum, when it was stolen, is still missing.

Singer Laren managing director Evert van Os stressed in a statement that the footage didn't show all of the burglary and defended security, which he said had been approved by the museum's insurance company.

"The burglar broke through a number of doors and several layers of security that had been approved by security experts," Mr Van Os said.

"The footage released does not therefore allow any conclusions to be drawn as to the quality of security at Singer Laren."

Police said that 56 new tips streamed in from the public as a result of the show, which aired on Tuesday night. They also said that it's not clear if the thief acted alone. Police are also seeking information about a white van shown on footage driving past the museum.

"It looks like they very deliberately targeted this one Van Gogh painting," police spokesperson, Maren Wonder said on the show.

Ms Wonder said investigators want to hear from any potential witnesses who saw the thief arrive outside the museum on a motorcycle. She also wants museum visitors to share with police any photos or video they took in the museum in the days before it closed down.

"People can help if they now realise that another visitor was behaving suspiciously," she said.

"It would be very helpful if visitors to the museum have photos or video recordings with other people in them."

AP

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2020-04-22 21:37:34Z
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