Turkish security forces confiscated a 78-year-old painting bearing the signature of famous Spanish painter Pablo Ruiz Picasso, and three historical objects before they were sold by smugglers in eastern Erzurum province, reports said on Thursday.
According to the Anadolu Agency, intelligence unit of the gendarmerie obtained intelligence that a painting belonging to Picasso was brought to Erzurum from eastern Van province and would be sold for five million dollars.
They reportedly tracked a vehicle belonging to A.D., I.A., and S.K. and stopped it on the road in Horasan district and found the painting inside the vehicle.
The painting was reportedly made by Picasso in 1939 and is thought to have been stolen from the Iraqi State Museum.
The painting and other objects seized by gendarmerie were put under protection after consultation with museum authorities and Ataturk University Arts History Department, Doğan News Agency reported.
The suspects were detained and transferred to court.
The police also seized three pieces of parchment paper with Egyptian hieroglyphics.
