The Tamesis
Seven years after police were caught undercover in a house in the hills of Nice containing stolen art, the case is back in court, with ten defendants currently on trial over the hidden collection, which includes several works by Pablo Picasso.
The trial, which began in Nice earlier this month, recalled a 2017 operation by judicial police that recovered more than 20 stolen works of art, including at least seven works by Picasso, after it was revealed that major works of art were being quietly sold on the Côte d’Azur.
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It is reported nice morning newsInvestigators from the Judiciary Police conducted an undercover investigation posing as a Swiss buyer and his assistant after receiving intelligence from Belgium that stolen art was being circulated there. Police arranged a meeting at a hotel in Nice, where a seller allegedly offered a multimillion-euro cash deal, before taking them to a house in the village of Payon in the north of the city.
Police said they found what amounted to a private display of stolen art at Perron’s property. Identified works include works by Picasso Lao Wang and clownand other paintings, sculptures and objects later linked to a series of thefts earlier that year.
Several of the recovered works are said to date back to a burglary in Saint-Paul-de-Vence in October 2017, as well as an armed robbery in Eze the following month. nice morning news. Investigators also seized cash, cellphones and documents that authorities said helped link specific works to specific crimes.
At the time of the recovery, a number of individuals associated with the Peillon estate were under formal investigation for alleged handling of stolen goods. earlier reports Europe 1 The case is described as involving an alleged resale operation aimed at discreetly moving stolen art through private channels rather than the public market.
The current proceedings consolidate the earlier investigation into a single trial involving ten defendants who prosecutors allege were involved in or benefited from a wider art theft and fencing network operating in the area. Local media reported that the court was investigating whether Payon’s house served as a storage and sales center for stolen works stolen from multiple locations.
The sentencing, expected on January 19, is likely to shed more light on the full scope of the theft and the path the recovered works took before being intercepted by police.
