Kentish Express Ashford & District
Two men arrested over artwork theft
Two men have been arrested on suspicion of trying to steal a Banksy-style artwork– less than a day after it was installed in the town.
Police officers on patrol in Folkestone stumbled across what they thought to be a theft in progress at a derelict building in Earls Avenue at 2.20am on Sunday.
Reports on social media claim the suspects were stopped after their van became stuck.
It comes just hours after reports on Instagram showed the new artwork appearing on the blue wooden panels.
The stencil work appears to show an elderly man staring at a cactus, with the words “Miami Air Freight, Return to Sender”.
It resembles the original Banksy artwork and i s an apparent reference to the court battle over the genuine Folkestone Banksy, which was controversially removed in a bid to sell it at auction in the United States.
The paintwork on the wall of the amusement arcade in Payers Park was removed after appearing during the Triennial in September 2014.
Then it was brought back after a legal battle in the High Court by the Creative Foundation last year, who successfully claimed the painting belonged to the building’s landlord rather than the building’s tenant, Dreamland Leisure, owned by the Godden family.
The new artwork is signed as “Robski by Banksy”, who is a prominent member of the Creative Foundation who reproduces artworks similar to Banksy.
Police have confirmed that a 26-year-old man from Guildford and a 29-year-old man from Ashford have been arrested on suspicion of theft.
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