Thieves steal £8,000,000 worth of paintings in just three minutes

A three-minute heist cost an Italian museum millions in stolen artwork.

Four masked men made off with paintings by Renoir, Cézanne and Matissebeing kept near the Italian city of Parma.

The raid on 22 March began when the gang forced their way through the main door of the Magnani Rocca Foundation at the Villa dei Capolavori, according to Italian media outlets.

They took four paintings from the French Room on the building’s first floor – Les Poissons by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Still Life with Cherries by Paul Cézanne and Odalisque on the Terrace by Henri Matisse.

The balaclava-clad gang were descibed as an ‘organised group’ and appeared intent on stealing more items before the collection’s alarm system went off.

The thieves then escaped by climbing over a fence, according to broadcaster TGR.

In only three minutes, the criminals had nabbed an estimated £7.8million (€9million) worth of art from the foundation, which was set up in the family home of art collector Luigi Magnani after his death in 1984.

The Les Poissons by Pierre-Auguste Renoir alone was worth £5.2million.

The theft is now being investigated by Italy’s Carabinier and the Cultural Heritage Protection Unit of Bologna.

Officers are looking at the museum’s video surveillance footage and that of neighbouring businesses to track down those responsible.

The heist is the latest in a series of costly break-ins targetting major museums in Europe.

In October last year, Robbers broke into the Louver in Paris in broad dayllight and took $102million worth of jewellery in just eight minutes.

The gang dressed in hi-vis jackets rode a basket lift up the Louvre ‘s facade, forced a window open before smashing into display cases and fleeing with priceless Napoleonic jewels.

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