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Two men recently stole a stop sign in London created by the mysterious artist Banksy, and the incident was recorded on camera. The artwork was stolen for almost 30 minutes on December 22, 2023, after the artist shared an Instagram post proving that he made it, as per Sky News.
The stop sign made by Banksy featured three aircraft on top. Evening Standard reported that the sign was stolen at around 12:30 p.m. and was put near a zebra crossing in the middle of Southampton Way and Commercial Way in Peckham, South London.
A video shared on X (formerly Twitter) by @MyLordBebo revealed that an anonymous individual approached the sign, removed it, and ran away. Eyewitnesses were reportedly heard reacting and expressing their shock over everything that happened.
According to Evening Standard, the man who stole the sign was spotted in a red and black jacket. He initially tried to steal the stop sign by standing on top of the handlebars of a bike and later used bolt cutters to remove it. As per Sky News, the local authorities added a new stop sign after the removal of Banksy's work.
Metropolitan Police have arrested a suspect after Banksy's stop sign was stolen
Two men recently stole Banksy's stop sign in South London, which was immediately reported to the local authorities. Sky News has now revealed that the Metropolitan Police Department has arrested a man, but his identity remains unknown.
One of the eyewitnesses, Alex, recalled the entire incident. According to Evening Standard, Alex saw Banksy's Instagram post and that people initially clicked pictures of the stop sign until a man came and tried to remove it.
"He put the Lime bike under the sign, stood on the Lime bike and tried to hit the sign, he hit it with his hands and it wasn't going anywhere. He fell off the Lime bike at one point."
Alex revealed that the man returned with bolt cutters and tried to remove the sign again. Other people at the spot were looking at the man, and he did not reply to anyone despite some questioning him on what he was doing.
"There was someone else there but I don't know if they were together. I went there thinking that people want that, I wanted to see it before something happened to it."
Other witnesses said that another man helped keep the bike straight, and some told the man to stop, but he continued using the bolt cutters to remove the sign.
Parts of Valentine's Day Mascara by Banksy believed to be stolen
According to Sky News, the Valentine's Day Mascara created by Banksy was displayed at Margate Kent on February 14, 2023. However, Red Eight Gallery, tasked with taking the piece to a local exhibition, revealed that many parts were missing, and only the chest freezer was safe.
The gallery's chief executive, Julian Usher, said that the chest freezer is the only thing that completes the piece. He added,
"We're gonna get everyone phoning up saying 'I've got a chair, I've got a frying pan. Can I pay my mortgage off please?'"
The piece features a homemaker during the 50s who pushes a man inside a chest freezer. The woman has a swollen eye and a missing tooth and wears an apron and yellow gloves.
