Precious art stolen during Brazil’s Carnival

Michael Astor

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil — Taking advantage of the chaos of a Carnival parade, thieves slipped into an art museum and stole paintings valued at tens of millions of dollars, even stripping visitors of cell phones, digital cameras and wallets before fleeing.

The heist of the high-value art was a brash crime at a celebration known more for its wallet-thieving pickpockets.

As a samba band performed outside last Friday, the thieves overpowered security guards at the Chacara do Ceu museum and stole Pablo Picasso’s “The Dance,” Salvador Dali’s “The Two Balconies,” Henri Matisse’s “Luxembourg Garden” and Claude Monet’s “Marine.”

The museum was open for visitors at the time, and the thieves held at least eight people inside. The intruders took cell phones, digital cameras and wallets from a couple from New Zealand and two Australian students.

“The bandit who robbed us wasn’t nervous. I was surprised with the speed of the robbery,” David Gee of New Zealand told the O Globo newspaper.

The paintings were considered the most valuable pieces at the museum, said a city security spokeswoman, Thais Isel, and local media estimated the paintings’ worth at around $50 million.

The thieves escaped, taking advantage of the droves of people outside who were following the Carnival band.

Authorities in the country’s airports and ports were put on alert for the four thieves. The priority was to prevent the paintings from leaving Brazil, federal police spokesman Clovis Franco said.

On Saturday, about 50,000 people fell in behind the Cordao da Bola Preta band that was founded in 1918 and traditionally plays on the Saturday morning of Carnival.

“This is the best carnival in the world,” said Meire Rosa Ferreira. “Because here there are no fights, no violence, everything is marvelous.”

But because Carnival revelry usually involves large crowds packed together, it is a perfect opportunity for pickpockets.

Rio’s reputation for street crime is so bad that many tourists feel getting robbed is a rite of passage. A popular T-shirt here reads: “I left my heart in Rio, and my watch and my camera and my wallet.”

“When we catch them (the thieves) they always say, ‘But they’re so easy, so easy,’“ said Ricardo Andreiolo, chief of the city’s tourist police.

Last year, tourism officials started distributing fliers warning visitors not to flaunt their cameras and expensive watches, to stay off of dark streets and away from the beach at night.

In a recent incident, 33 British tourists were robbed at gunpoint after their bus was stopped on a major highway from the airport to downtown Rio.

Security consultant James R. Hunter says “most tourists write off being ripped off as part of going to Rio and don’t even report it.”

“You lose your cash, your cell phone, your watch. So don’t go out (with) anything you’re not prepared to lose.” (Associated Press)