Faulty alarms blamed for Van Gogh theft in Egypt
CAIRO. August 23. KAZINFORM The theft of a Vincent Van Gogh painting worth about $50m from a Cairo museum on Saturday has been blamed on poor security; Kazinform refers to BBC.
Egypt's top prosecutor, Abdel Meguid Mahmud, said none of the alarms at the Khalil Museum and only seven out of 43 security cameras were working.
He said that the broken alarms and cameras had not worked for some time.
There was confusion on Saturday when Egypt's culture minister mistakenly said the painting had been recovered.
Farouk Hosni had said two Italians had been arrested at Cairo airport, and the small canvas found.
But later he backtracked, saying that he had been given "inaccurate" information, and the painting was still missing.
The painting - known as both Poppy Flowers and Vase And Flowers - was cut from its frame at the Mahmoud Khalil Museum during the day on Saturday.
On Saturday, there was a report that two Italians had been arrested at Cairo airport in connection with the theft after visiting the museum earlier in the day.
According to Egypt's culture minister, Mr Hosni, only 10 people visited the museum on Saturday.
The state news agency Mena reported that the Italians had aroused suspicion after they were seen visiting a toilet and then rapidly leaving the premises.
Italy's Ansa news agency said the two Italians were young and had been part of a tour group visiting the gallery.
It is not clear whether the pair are still under arrest; Kazinform cites BBC.
See www.bbc.co.uk for full version.