Sao Paulo: Police recovered paintings by Pablo Picasso and Candido Portinari worth millions of dollars stolen last month from a Brazilian museum and arrested two people, officials have said.

The suspects had the paintings when they were arrested, according to police spokeswoman Rosa Maria da Costa, who said she had no other details. A police press conference was announced for later yesterday.

On December 20,thieves armed with nothing but a crowbar and a car jack broke into the Sao Paulo Museum of Art and stole Picasso's "Portrait of Suzanne Bloch" and Portinari's "O Lavrador de Cafe."

Art experts estimed the value of the Picasso painting at about USD 50 million and the Portinari at USD 5-6 million.

No arrests had been made since the brazen burglary, which took place just before dawn as guards were changing shifts. Hazy images from a security camera showed three men using a car jack to squeeze inside a metal security gate, then smashing through two glass doors and running to the museum s top floor to grab the two framed paintings from different rooms.

The museum's security system had only a few cameras and guards patrolling the building's interior were unarmed. There were no alarms or movement sensors.

None of the museum s 8,000 works of art are insured.

Source : PTI