Â鶹´«Ã½

Skip to main content

Suspect arrested in alleged theft of a Banksy stop sign decorated with military drones

A man is pictured removing a Banksy artwork from a street in south London.(Aaron Chown/AP)
A man is pictured removing a Banksy artwork from a street in south London.(Aaron Chown/AP)
Share
LONDON -

A man suspected of stealing an artwork by Banksy of a stop sign adorned with three military drones, was arrested Saturday, London police said.

A man in his 20s was in custody on suspicion of theft and criminal damage, the Metropolitan police said.

The sign was taken less than an hour after the elusive street Friday.

Video showed a man with bolt cutters climbing up on a bicycle to remove the work from a sign post on a street corner in the Peckham area of south London while another man steadied the bike. The man who cut the sign free then ran off with it in his hand.

A voice on a video of the incident could be heard saying, "it makes me so annoyed," as the man ran away.

A witness who only wanted to be called Alex told the PA news agency that the small crowd of people that had shown up to view the work stood around watching in awe as the scene unfolded.

"We said, `What are you doing? But no one really knew what to do, we sort of just watched it happen," Alex said. "We were all a bit bemused; there was some honking of car horns."

Jasmine Ali, deputy leader of the local borough council, called for the piece to be returned.

"It should not have been removed and we'd like it back so everyone in the community can enjoy Banksy's brilliant work," Ali said.

The stop sign was replaced.

Banksy's thought-provoking and satirical art often takes aim at war. Many of his followers on Instagram interpreted the work as calling for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

CTVNews.ca Top Stories

A 27-year-old man is facing several charges after police observed a vehicle travelling 134 km/h over the speed limit on Highway 174 in Ottawa's east end.

A Pickering, Ont., student going to college to be a mechanic is shocked the engine in his two-year-old car will not be repaired under warranty after the dealership claimed he had been 'over-revving' the engine.

Local Spotlight

The last living member of the legendary Vancouver Asahi baseball team, Kaye Kaminishi, died on Saturday, Sept. 28, surrounded by family. He was 102 years old.

On Saturday night at her parents’ home in Delaware, Ont. the Olympic bronze medallist in pole vault welcomed everyone who played a role in getting her to the podium in Paris.

A tale about a taxicab hauling gold and sinking through the ice on Larder Lake, Ont., in December 1937 has captivated a man from that town for decades.

When a group of B.C. filmmakers set out on a small fishing boat near Powell River last week, they hoped to capture some video for a documentary on humpback whales. What happened next blew their minds.

A pizza chain in Edmonton claims to have the world's largest deliverable pizza.

Sarah McLachlan is returning to her hometown of Halifax in November.

Wayne MacKay is still playing basketball twice at Mount Allison University at 87 years old.

A man from a small rural Alberta town is making music that makes people laugh.

An Indigenous artist has a buyer-beware warning ahead of Sept. 30, the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.