Van Gogh :Confusion Grows Over Stolen Van Gogh Painting

(August 22) - The investigation into how  a Van Gogh painting was snatched from a Cario museum  has turned into a farce worthy of fictional French detective  Inspector Jacques Clouseau.
News of the painting's theft - known as both  the "Poppy Flowers" and "Vase With Flowers" - broke Saturday when Egypt's minister of culture announced that the $50 million work of  art had been "cut from its frame " while on show at the Mahmoud Khalil museum. He added that police  were  now studying security camera  footage  and questioning employees.
However , attempts to examine that footage might prove difficult , because according to one security official  interviewed by Agence France-Presse, both the museum's cameras  and its alarms have been out of action for "a long time. "the cameras had not been working for a long time , and neither had the alarm system,"  said the official , speaking on condition of anonymity. "We don't know exactly know how long they had been out of order, but it was a long,long time. The museum officials  said they  were looking for spare parts [for the security system] but hadn't managed to find them [by the time of the theft ]."
The  revalation is the lastest in a string of embassments  for authorities , on Saturday evening , Culture Minister  Farouq Hosni announced that Egyptian police had arrested  two young Italians - who visited the museum earlier in the day - at Cario airport n as they attempted to smuggle the oil painting out  of the country. however, later in the day  he was forced  to retract that claim, saying that it had been based on  an erroneous report from a subordinate. "The information...came from...[ministry officials ] Mohsen Shaalan. Despite Shaalan receiving confirmation was inaccurate," the minister said in a statement, according to Middle East Online.
Exactly what  has happen to the two Italians supposedly held by Egyptian police is unclear.  Caterina Gioiella, a consular official at Italy's embassy in Cario today told news agency ANSA that no Italians had been arrested in connection with the missing painting.
The authorities bumbling response to the theft - and the lack of basic safeguards at the gallery - will surprise  many in the art world, as this is the second time that the piece has been snatched from the Khalil Museum. Thieves first made off with  the 12- inch by 12- inch  canvas in 1978, although it was recovered at an undisclosed  location in Kuwait two years later . However , a duplicate  was sold for $43 million a year later, sparking specclation that the retuned painting was a fake.
Van Godh's piece - believed to have been painted in 1887 - is one of the star attractions in the Khalil Museum's  extensive collection of 19th century French works, which also features  painting by Paul Gauguin , Gustave Courbet , Francois Millet , Claude Monet  , Edouard Manet , Auguste Renoir and Auguste Rodin. The works were all originally owned by Mahmoud Khalil, an Egyptian parliamentarian in the 1930's.
My spin : Sounds kind of fishy to me ...maybe an inside job....HUH ??? What you think???