The thieves stole the paintings in less than three minutes from the Kunsthal after they forced an emergency door open with a set of pliers, according to the prosecution’s file obtained by Bloomberg.
They “never for a moment believed that the paintings were original after stealing them proved to be so easy,” Dancu said.
The stolen paintings belong to a private collection managed by the Triton Foundation, started by Rotterdam port entrepreneur Willem Cordia. The collection consists of about 250 paintings, drawings and sculptures from the period 1860 to 1970.