A criminal network forging artworks from Banksy, Andy Warhol, and Pablo Picasso has been uncovered by Italian police.
Investigators said on Monday they had seized more than 2,100 fake pieces of art – with a potential market value of about €200m (£165m) – and discovered two forgery workshops in Tuscany, one in Venice and three elsewhere in Europe.
A statement from Italy’s paramilitary Carabinieri art squad and the Pisa prosecutors’ office added some 38 people across Italy, Spain, France and Belgium have been probed in connection with the forgeries.
They are under investigation on suspicion of conspiracy to handle stolen goods, forgery and the illegal sale of artworks.
Other pieces – including some by Claude Monet, Vincent van Gogh and Salvador Dali – were also said to be forged and then sold by the group.
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The probe began last year after seizing some 200 fake pieces, including a copy of a drawing by Italian painter Amedeo Modigliani, from a businessman’s art collection in Pisa.
It led the investigators to forgeries sold by auction houses across Italy, and to connect them to a group known to specialise in fake Banksy and Warhol pieces.
It was also alleged the suspects had organised two Banksy exhibitions with a published catalogue in prestigious locations in Mestre, near Venice, and Cortona in Tuscany to boost their credibility.
Teresa Angela Camelio, the chief prosecutor of Pisa, said experts from the Banksy archive who assisted with the investigation considered the operation as “the biggest act of protection of Banksy’s work”.
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Sky News has contacted Pest Control – which represents Banksy – for comment.
On its website, it said: “There are a lot of people trying to sell fake Banksy’s who go to great lengths to make them seem real.”
