Video footage showing masked thieves brazenly removing art from museum walls in Verona heist leads to 13 arrests

'The offence to the city of Verona has been partially repaired. It will be totally repaired when we bring home our treasures'

Video surveillance which captured a brazen art heist in Italy has led to the arrest of 13 people.

In November, the armed robbery of 17 paintings worth £11.7 million was carried out at the Castelvecchio Museum in Verona.

Among the artworks stolen, all of which still remain missing, were pieces by Tintoretto, Peter Paul Rubens and Andrea Mantegna.

Authorities said that the video surveillance, as well as wiretapped phones, played a key part in the arrests. In total, around 4,000 hours of video footage was analysed to help identify the suspects.

In the video released by Italian police, masked thieves, one of whom appears to be carrying a gun, can be seen boldly removing paintings from the walls and easels in the museum.

In other footage obtained by Sky News, a museum staff member appears to be tied up and dragged across the floor.

Hundreds of phones calls were also intercepted by the police. In one call, the thieves can be heard calling the heist “a big hit”, and in others they discuss waiting a while before attempting to offload the paintings.

Three armed robbers entered the museum at closing time on 19 November, after the majority of the staff members had left but before the alarm system was activated.

One of the suspects was identified as the guard on duty that day. The guard’s twin brother and wife were also arrested.

Of the suspects, eight were arrested in Italy, the rest in Moldova.

Detectives believe the paintings are in Moldova. General Mariano Mossa, the commander of Italy’s art theft squad, said it was likely that they “had not been dispersed,” the New York Times reported.

Investigator Renato Cortese said: “The offence to the city of Verona has been partially repaired. It will be totally repaired when we bring home our treasures.”

In November, art critic Vittorio Sgarbi said the theft was “one of the most serious art robberies in [Italy’s] history," Reuters reported.

Flavio Tosi, the mayor of Verona, said it was a “wound for the city”.

Additional reporting by PA