The London police have arrested two suspects in the theft of the latest STOP artwork by Banksy.
On December 22, the artist Banksy posted an image on his Instagram account of what appeared to be his latest artwork. The image featured a traffic stop sign with the text STOP, with military drones flying in the background of the text. As soon as the artist posted the image, users already argued that such a work would be easily stolen – something not new for the mysterious artist renowned for his street art.
True enough, merely hours after the post went up, the sign was stolen. The theft occurred in broad daylight, as two men pulled off the sign using a Lime bicycle, a makeshift ladder, and a pair of bolt cutters. An eyewitness of the ordeal later told the media that the two men had earlier tried to pull off the sign manually, but failed to do so. Hence, they returned later around 12.30 pm, and pulled off the sign with their tools.
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However, the entire theft occurred in broad daylight, with the faces of the two men clearly captured and later shared by users online. So it was no surprise that the London police nabbed one of the suspects the next day itself. They had trouble tracking the second individual but finally managed to catch him on Sunday. It is worth noting that the arrests were not made for stealing Banksy’s work, which was possibly illegal as it was created on public property without permission. Instead, they are arrested for criminal damage to public property, which is the traffic stop sign.
