Four custodians at a museum in Messina have been transferred after six precious works by Renaissance master Antonello da Messina were stolen from the gallery on Saturday, it said Thursday.
    The four custodians were on duty at the Accascina Museum in Messina when the works were stolen on the evening of August 15, the Ferragosto holiday for the Feast of the Assumption of Mary into Heaven, when thieves took advantage of the annual Marian ceremony in the Sicilian city.
    They have been transferred to other cultural heritage sites.
    The four, two regional employees and two local health authority staff, are currently on vacation but will not return to work at the museum.
    Disciplinary proceedings, which could lead to dismissal, will be opened against them as soon as the Sicilian Regional Department for Cultural Heritage receives a report from the museum's director, Marisa Mercurio.
    The six altarpiece panels by Antonello have been valued at tens of millions of euros.
    According to reports, the alarm system was activated immediately when the gang of thieves broke in, and the incident was also captured on video surveillance cameras.
    The robbery took a matter of minutes.
    Investigators probing the sensational theft have found traces left by the gang of thieves who stole the six works, abandoning two during their escape which were found thanks to a tip-off from a passerby.
    The circumstances suggest the heist was not carried out by a professional group, prosecutors have said.
    They suspect an inside job.

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