Tuesday, November 13, 2012 - 
Arthur Brand,Charley Hill,Irish Travellers,Kunsthal Rotterdam,Rathkeal Rovers,Rhino thefts
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Arthur Brand,Charley Hill,Irish Travellers,Kunsthal Rotterdam,Rathkeal Rovers,Rhino thefts
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Kunsthal Rotterdam Theft: Private art investigator Arthur Brand suspects Irish gang involved in rhino horn theft last year and last month's robbery
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| Matisse painting stolen last month from Kunsthal |
by Catherine Sezgin, ARCA Blog Editor-in-Chief
Dutch private art investigator Arthur Brand has a theory
that ties two seemingly unrelated museum thefts together: the theft of the rhino
horns from Rotterdam’s Natural History Museum and last months’ theft of
paintings from the Kunsthal Rotterdam.
Mr. Brand, who described himself as “well informed about art
thefts in Holland”, introduced himself via the Internet and told me that I
could ask former Scotland Yard detective Charley Hill to vouch for his
credibility (which Mr. Hill did via email).
In a conversation via Skype, Mr. Brand extended the dialogue
begun last month on the ARCA blog by former Scotland Yard art detective Charley Hill in regards to the Kunsthal
robbery:
This is Mr. Brand’s assessment:Mr. Hill: My view is that this theft was particularly well organised, done quickly and in the almost certain knowledge that the thieves and what they stole would be long gone by the time the police arrived. Also, the thieves were apparently not opportunists such as the two with a ladder at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam some years ago who smashed a window and took the two pictures nearest the broken glass, nor were they Balkan bandits with machine pistols like the ones who hit the Munch Museum in 2004, or the Buhrle Collection in Zurich a few years ago.
The closest pattern I know is of Irish Traveller raids on art in the 1980s through 2010. The pattern in Rotterdam the night before last was closer to that. See the art crimes of The General as he called himself, Martin Cahill of Dublin. Interestingly, one of Cahill's gang, George Mitchell, known as The Penguin, lives close to Rotterdam where he works in commodities with his Colombian, Russian, Dutch, Brit, Irish and other friends. I wonder if he has a part to play in this? He could do something about getting those pictures back, I'm sure, if any good Dutch police officer not in his pay asked him for some help.
George “The Penguin” Mitchell escaped
to Holland in 1996 after the murder of Irish reporter Veronica Guerin. Mitchell lived in Amsterdam and
Rotterdam before moving to Morocco a couple of years ago. He visits The Netherlands to see family
and to do business (one of those businesses dealing in Indonesian
antiquities). I thought about what
Charley Hill said about The Penguin’s involvement and made some inquiries in
the underworld and learned that an Irish connection could very well be possible.
Mitchell, who once worked for the
gang of art thief Martin Cahill, is said to know members of the Rathkeale Rovers, a
gang of Irish Travellers (gypsies) suspected of stealing rhino horns from a few
dozen museums throughout Europe. Rhino horns are valued for medicinal purposes in eastern
Asia. Thieves make millions with
that but there is more to this group.
The Rathkeale Rovers were linked in 2005 to the theft of the
Henry Moore sculpture stolen and melted down for bronze scrap metal. Irish Travellers were suspected in the 2003 theft of
Leonardo da Vinci’s Madonna of the Yarnwinder from Drumlanrig castle in
Scotland. Although the painting
was recovered in 2007, the thieves who removed the painting from the home of
the Duke of Buccleuch have never been caught. In 2005, according to rumors and a source in the FBI, Irish
Travellers planned to rob the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia. I have been told that George Mitchell was connected to
Martin Cahill’s associate Martin Foley who is suspected of robbing the Russborough
House in 2001 and 2002.
The Rathkeal Rovers were almost certainly at the Natural History
Museum in Rotterdam on August 26, 2011 when three rhino horns were stolen. If you look at this image of the
Kunsthal, you can see a building to the left – about five to ten meters away
from the art gallery. This is the Natural
History Museum. If you look back
from there, you can see right through the big glass windows of the Kunsthal and
see the art displayed. What I
suspect and it’s backed up by a few rumors, the thieves stealing the rhino
horns probably figured that this was too good to be true – that they were
looking into the worst protected museum in the world. If you smash a window you are in and you can take 100-200
million euros worth of paintings.
Why steal rhino horn for less than 20,000 euros when we can kick in the
glass window and get 100 million?
The rumor in the criminal world is that the Rathkeale Rovers are behind
the Kunsthal Rotterdam theft. One
year after rhino horns were stolen from a museum in Rotterdam, another theft
occurs at the art gallery just five to ten meters away. Nobody has brought these two events
together even though the Irish Travellers and the Rathkeale Rovers have been
linked to art thefts and they are well connected to the old Cahill group known
as the world’s best art thieves.
They all know each other.
After the IRA murdered Cahill, part of his gang thought they should go
to the Netherlands and Amsterdam is the best place to go if you still want to
deal in drugs. The best art
thieves and Irish Travellers live in the Netherlands. It was even more difficult to break into Natural History
Museum than the Kunsthall – you can send in a girl of 10 to steal art from
there. I cannot confirm the rumor
that it was an Irish job but I can logically connect the events –- there is
only one group right now robbing museums.
Here's the link to an article by Jolande van der Graaf and Robbert Blokland published today in De Telegraf on the Kunsthal Rotterdam theft which we'll discuss in the next post.
Here's the link to an article by Jolande van der Graaf and Robbert Blokland published today in De Telegraf on the Kunsthal Rotterdam theft which we'll discuss in the next post.
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