Egypt Blames Lax Security for Van Gogh Painting Theft
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The theft from a Cairo museum of a painting by Vincent van Gogh valued at $55 million took place when only seven out of 43 security cameras were functioning, the public prosecutor said.
“Even those seven were not functioning perfectly,” Abdel-Meguid Mahmoud told reporters at the Mohamed Mahmoud Khalil Museum today on the Nile in Cairo, one day after the painting was declared missing. “Each painting in the museum has an alarm. Not a single alarm for any painting is working.” The robbers cut the painting out of its frame, the state-run Middle East News Agency reported, citing the prosecutor’s office.