Arrests made as Banksy ‘forgery ring’ uncovered
Spanish police have uncovered a criminal gang that they said forged and distributed works by the British street artist Banksy, with pieces selling around the world for thousands of dollars.
Officers are investigating four people accused of fraud and crimes against intellectual property.
They detected the sale of the works last July, spotting them on online platforms, in auction rooms and antique dealers.
In August, the first inspections of the works were made to check their traceability and locate their provenance. Nine works were seized, some of which had been sold for up to €1500 (NZ$2660) each.
Yesterday, two people were arrested in the northeastern city of Zaragoza, where the forgeries were allegedly made and two others with “knowledge of the art world”, suspected of having put the works on sale, Catalonia’s regional police force said.
Police suspect the ring sold at least 25 works made with spray paint on cardboard in specialised shops, auction houses in Barcelona and online to customers in Germany, Scotland, Spain and the United States.
The ring forged certificates claiming that the works had been created by Banksy as part of his Dismaland project, a temporary exhibition which resembled a grim theme park set up in 2015 in Weston-super-Mare, near the artist’s home city of Bristol.
The exhibition, tagged as “the United Kingdom’s most disappointing new visitor attraction”, featured a decrepit fairytale castle in a moat of murky water and model boats on a pool full of refugees.
Officers said they uncovered the workshop in Zaragoza in December where two “young followers of Banksy’s urban art who had economic problems created the works”.
The investigation remains open and police have not ruled out further arrests. Banksy, whose identity has never been revealed, is known for his ironic murals in unexpected places.
His works, which have been found in locations ranging from London and New York to the West Bank and Gaza, have become highly sought after in the art world he satirises.
Owners of Banksy works have had to wait years for their money-spinning authentication certificates to be issued, due to the organisation charged with dispensing them being overwhelmed with forgery-related problems, it has been claimed.
Banksy’s Pest Control authentication service – set up by the artist in 2008 after a series of fake prints were sold online – receives up to 700 applications for certificates each month, an expert on the artist has said.