It's easy to see why art theft has historically been pretty popular: works of art worth millions are hung up for public inspection, are highly sought after, and are lightweight and easy to conceal. While most high-profile museums now have complex security systems, there always has and indeed there may always will be both the temptation and the demand for stolen works of art. This is the story of some of the most audacious, cunning and expensive art thefts ever.

Part 1: The Big Sting
I n 2000, two Renoirs and a Rembrandt worth $80 million were stolen in an armed daylight raid on the National Museum in Stockholm. It was a well-planned heist with the thieves making their escape by boat through the labyrinth of canals in the Swedish capital. When the ringleaders were finally traced, police discovered that the plot to carry out the robbery had been hatched by two inmates in a prison many miles away.

With the criminals behind the robbery in custody, the rest of the international gang set about trying to sell the paintings but one by one the authorities retrieved each of the paintings. The first, Renoir's The Conversation was retrieved in a police operation in a Stockholm café. The second, Renoir's La Jeune Parisienne, turned up in Los Angeles during FBI surveillance of a drugs gang. The third and most valuable, the Rembrandt self portrait, was returned to the museum after a daring undercover operation by an FBI secret agent.

Using police surveillance footage and phone taps this documentary tells the story of the armed robbery and details the extraordinary sting organised by the FBI to find the works of art.


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