A man has been arrested following the theft of a Banksy artwork in London, the city's Metropolitan Police have revealed. The piece, a stop sign featuring three drones, vanished less than an hour after being placed in Peckham, South London, on Friday.
The anonymous artist Banksy posted a photo of the artwork on his Instagram page that same day. Shortly after, two unidentified men seized the work and fled, an incident filmed by bystanders.
Southwark Council swiftly called on police to investigate the incident. The council deputy leader Jasmine Ali stated: "We are not just talking about a street sign here, it is a work of art which was put there for the community. It is street art and it is for the people."
A gallery owner estimates the artwork’s worth to be half a million pounds (£576,000), the BBC reports.
🇬🇧 | 🇬🇧 BANKSY'S £500K ART STOLEN A Banksy masterpiece valued at £500K ($650K USD), portraying military drones on a Stop sign, was snatched off the streets of South London. The theft occurred within an hour of its unveiling on Commercial Way in Peckham, as a man wielding a… pic.twitter.com/FgYrzWt1tn
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On Saturday, a local street artist posted her own reproduction of the Banksy piece at the same site. She declared, “Art is for everyone.”
Banksy’s Instagram followers interpret his latest work as a call for ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
