Two men have been arrested for allegedly stealing one of Banksy’s most iconic artworks, “Girl with Balloon,” from a London gallery, cops said Friday.
Larry Fraser, 47, and James Love, 53, are accused of snatching the incognito artist’s famous stencil mural — valued at roughly $355,000 — from the Grove Gallery on Sunday night, the Metropolitan Police said.
Surveillance video captured one of the alleged perps smashing down the gallery’s glass front door before quickly snatching the artwork from the wall and fleeing down the street.
Police said they have since recovered the stolen work but didn’t elaborate further on how — or where — they tracked it down.
The stolen work has since been returned to the gallery, police said.
The suspects, meanwhile, were slapped with burglary charges and appeared at Wimbledon Magistrates’ Court on Thursday, police said.
They are being held in custody until their next court hearing on Oct. 9.
The piece is one of several versions of Banksy’s Girl with Balloon — a stenciled image of a young girl reaching for a heart-shaped red balloon.
Originally stenciled on a wall in east London, the picture has been endlessly reproduced, becoming one of Banksy’s most famous images.
A version of the artwork partially self-destructed during a 2018 auction when it suddenly passed through a shredder hidden in its frame just seconds after it was sold for $1.4 million.
The shredded work — retitled “Love is in the Bin” — then sold for $25.4 million in 2021.
