London police announced a second arrest on Sunday following the disappearance of a work by Banksy, taken away in front of stunned witnesses barely after being claimed by the enigmatic British artist.
The work, three aircraft which appear to be combat drones on a stop sign, appeared on Friday morning at a crossroads in the Peckham district of south-east London.
The artist quickly posted a photo of his work on his Instagram account, through which he usually authenticates his creations.
Less than an hour later, witnesses filmed a man, perched on a bicycle, dismantling the panel using cutting pliers, with the help of another man. The video, which made the rounds on social networks, then shows him running off with the work.
After arresting a man in his twenties on Saturday, London’s Metropolitan Police said on Sunday that they had taken a forty-year-old into custody on suspicion of “theft and damage”.
The first arrested was released under judicial supervision pending further investigation procedures expected in mid-March.
The London police initially indicated that they had not received any reports regarding the disappearance of the work.
But Southwark City Council, responsible in particular for signage in this area, said on Friday evening that it wished to recover the sign and had reported the incident to the police.
Police have urged “anyone who may have information about the incident or the whereabouts of the sign” to contact them.
Several works by Banksy, which sometimes fetch millions of euros at auction, have already been stolen in the past, including a door from the Parisian Bataclan hall, which paid tribute to the victims of the November 13 attacks.
Others have been compromised, like a mural denouncing domestic violence, representing a housewife with a look from the 1950s or 1960s, disfigured by a black eye and a broken tooth, while the a man’s legs protrude from an old, very real, horizontal freezer placed against the wall.
The freezer was quickly removed for safety reasons, confusing the understanding of the work, before being reinstalled.
The ephemeral nature of the works is sometimes desired by Banksy himself. In 2018, The girl with the ball had partially self-destructed in the middle of the auction, causing astonishment.
The artist intended to denounce the “commodification” of art through this performance. But the price of the self-destructed work, renamed Love is in the trashwas almost multiplied by 20 during a sale three years later, exceeding 20 million euros.