Brazilian police recover Picasso print, nab suspect
SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Police recovered a Pablo Picasso print and arrested one person in connection with an armed robbery at Sao Paulo's Pinacoteca Museum last month, local media reported on Saturday.
The print, Picasso's "The Painter and the Model" from 1963, was one of four works taken in broad daylight on June 12, the official Agencia Brasil government news agency said.
The Spanish artist's "Minotaur, Drinker and Women" from 1933 and two works by Brazilian artists are still missing.
Police found the print with Wesley Teobaldo Barros, who was arrested as he prepared to steal an automated teller machine, Agencia Estado said. Three others were arrested with Barros, but they were not involved with the art heist, it said.
The artworks, which included the print "Couple" by Brazilian artist Lasar Segall (1891-1957) and the painting "Women in a Window" by fellow Brazilian Emiliano Di Cavalcanti (1897-1976), are valued at 1 million reais ($630,000), according to the Sao Paulo state culture secretary.
The June robbery was the second theft of works by Picasso in Sao Paulo in the past year. In December, his "Portrait of Suzanne Bloch" was stolen from the Sao Paulo Museum of Art.
Police recovered the painting and arrested two suspects a few weeks later.
(Reporting by Elzio Barreto; editing by Todd Eastham)
