Overview
- Police say two men stole a Coderch & Malavia work and Eduardo Chillida’s Lurra G20 in separate gallery robberies that took place on consecutive days, with the incidents reported after the Monday and Tuesday thefts.
- Hours after the Tuesday theft, a Guardia Urbana patrol stopped two men near Diagonal and Roger de Flor and identified them using circulated images and footage.
- One suspect confessed and told officers the smaller Coderch & Malavia sculpture had been hidden in a garden and the Chillida was in the hotel room where they were staying, allowing officers to recover both pieces intact.
- Authorities have detained two Serbian nationals aged 25 and 28, charged them with theft after surveillance verification, and returned the works to Villa del Arte and Galería Mayoral without damage.
- Galleries praised the fast police response but said the case exposes security gaps after thieves used a distraction technique to remove pieces without tripping cameras or private guards, a point likely to spur tighter measures at urban galleries.