A second suspect has been arrested in the blatant broad daylight theft of a Banksy stop sign artwork in London, police said Sunday.
The famous yet elusive street artist posted an Instagram photo on Friday of his newest work. It depicted three military drones on a stop sign in London.
Fans and admirers quickly flocked to the site in the city’s Peckham neighborhood. But while they were enjoying the art, two men arrived to steal it. One climbed on top of a bicycle and used bolt cutters to remove the sign, while the second man held the bike steady. The entire scene was captured in videos and photos from the stunned onlookers.
“We said, ‘What are you doing?’ But no one really knew what to do, we sort of just watched it happen,” a witness who gave his name only as Alex told a British news agency. “We were all a bit bemused; there was some honking of car horns.”
The man who cut the sign from the pole then ran away from the scene. On Saturday, a man in his 20s was arrested and later released on bail, according to London police. The second suspect, identified only as a man in his 40s, was detained on Sunday.
Banksy, who seldom if ever issues public statements, did not comment on the theft. His artwork was eventually replaced with a normal stop sign.
Banksy is well-known for his criticism of military force and his support for oppressed people. He has even tackled military drones before, in a 2017 work called “Civilian Drone Strike.” That piece featured the same three military drones as the London stop sign.
With News Wire Services
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