The theft of four works by Renaissance master Antonello da Messina during an annual religious festival on the Feast of the Assumption in his native Sicilian city on Saturday may have been an inside job, Italian police said on Monday.
    The four parts of an altarpiece were some of the only works by Antonello held in Messina.
    While hundreds of devotees and onlookers in Piazza Duomo were paying homage to the Vara procession, with security measures in place to ensure everything ran smoothly, and the Ferragosto sun had set a couple of hours earlier, the sensational robbery took place at the regional museum, 4 km away from the site of the celebration of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary.
    It brought to mind the incredible and daring theft carried out almost a year ago at the Louvre in Paris, when a gang made off with millions of euros' worth of jewels in a matter of minutes.
    Shortly before 10:00 PM, three or four people, their faces covered by balaclavas, managed to enter the museum and steal six works by Antonello, the most important Sicilian painter of the 15th century.
    The heist was worth tens of millions of euros.
    Two other works were found shortly afterward on a low wall outside the museum: the thieves had likely abandoned them during their escape due to the presence of several passersby at the time.
    "Dismay and regret," commented Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli, who assured "his full willingness to cooperate with the regional authorities, which manage the island's museums, given their special autonomy." Sicilian Regional President Renato Schifani described this as an "exceptional criminal act" and an "intolerable affront to universal cultural heritage." The Messina Public Prosecutor's Office has opened an investigation into aggravated theft of artworks, currently against unknown persons, as Chief Prosecutor Antonio D'Amato emphasized in a statement.
    Immediately after discovering the theft, police set up checkpoints at the ferry terminals to Calabria last night, but so far the checks have been unsuccessful.
    It is therefore unknown whether the gang managed to leave Sicily or whether the stolen masterpieces are still hidden somewhere on the island.
    Several lines of investigation are being pursued, with the Carabinieri's Heritage Protection Unit also collaborating.
    The main focus is on the theft, probably commissioned by an art dealer who aims to sell them secretly and in great privacy.
    Selling such works on the black market won't be easy without a clear plan.
    The theft happened in two or three minutes.
    To gain access to the museum garden, the thieves allegedly passed through the gates on the side overlooking Viale Annunziata and forced a door to reach the rooms where the works were stored.
    The alarm and video surveillance systems, as confirmed by museum officials and verified by investigators, functioned perfectly.
    Why it was so easy to steal such valuable paintings unhindered, and why no one intervened, is the question the police are trying to answer in order to reconstruct the incident and identify the thieves.
    Investigators are focusing on one aspect: the alarm was apparently raised when the gang forced their way in and broke the glass of the display cases containing the paintings.
    At that moment, four custodians were present in the building, and video surveillance cameras captured every stage of the theft, as evidenced by the footage acquired by the police.
    Were none of the custodians in the security checkpoint watching the monitors at the time? And why didn't they intervene when the alarm went off, which was apparently deactivated by one of them immediately afterward? Perhaps it was perceived as a false alarm.
    Furthermore, the museum custodians apparently learned of the theft only when law enforcement knocked on the building's door to determine whether the two works found on the outside wall belonged to the art collection.
    The police interviewed the staff as witnesses.
    Whether or not there was an internal insider will be determined by the investigation.
    "An internal inspection has been launched to reconstruct every step and determine any liability attributable to the custodial staff," warned Governor Schifani.
    "The alarm and video surveillance system worked.

No grey area will be tolerated."
   

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