Two men arrested over alleged theft of new Banksy artwork in London

The work, featuring three drones overlaid on a traffic sign in Peckham, South London, had been confirmed as a new creation by the anonymous graffiti artist.

Two men were arrested in London this weekend, suspected of stealing a new Banksy art installation on the very same day that it was unveiled. The work, featuring three drones overlaid on a traffic sign in Peckham, South London, had been confirmed as a new creation by the anonymous graffiti artist. Banksy, whose work has fetched more than $23 million dollars at auction, shared a series of photos on Instagram around midday local time (7 a.m. ET) Friday. But witnesses told the PA Media news agency that they saw two men removing the “STOP” sign from the street junction where it was being displayed around 12:30 p.m. using bolt cutters. The two men were arrested on Saturday and Sunday respectively, London’s Metropolitan Police told CNN in a statement — both “on suspicion of theft and criminal damage.” One remains in custody, with the other released on bail. “This guy comes up and grabs it, we watched in awe,” one witness to the incident told PA Media, having come across the artwork after seeing Banksy post about its debut on social media. “We said ‘what are you doing?’ but no one really knew what to do, we sort of just watched it happen. We were all a bit bemused.” “He ripped it off and ran across the road and ran away. He said nothing,” the witness continued. “He didn’t seem to care that much about the art itself.”