Dutch police nab suspect in Warhol art theft

THE HAGUE — Dutch police said on Tuesday they had arrested a man suspected of involvement in the theft of two works by artist Andy Warhol stolen last week with the help of explosives.

Officers raided several locations and detained a 23-year-old suspect, who is now in solitary confinement allowed contact only with his lawyer.

Police declined to say whether any works have been recovered.

The theft took place overnight Thursday to Friday, with heavy explosives exployed to break into the MPV Gallery in Oisterwijk, southern Netherlands.

Two screenprints showing former queens Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and Margrethe II of Denmark were stolen.

Warhol's "Reigning Queens" series was on display at the gallery before going on sale at the PAN Amsterdam art fair that runs from November 24 to December 1.

Two other works from the same series, showing former Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands and Queen Ntombi Tfwala of Eswatini, formerly Swaziland, were abandoned on the street.

"The works are worth a considerable sum," the owner of the gallery, Mark Peet Visser, told local media after the robbery.

The "Reigning Queens" series was created in 1985, two years before the American artist's death, when all four queens were in power.