OFF THE WALL

WATCH: Thief Swipes Banksy Artwork in Gallery Smash-and-Grab

The piece worth over $350,000 was snatched in a raid which took less than a minute.

Security camera footage shows a masked thief smashing their way into a London art gallery and stealing a Banksy artwork on Sunday night. The print—“Girl with Balloon”—is worth over $350,000, according to court documents. On Thursday, two men were charged with burglary in connection with the raid, Scotland Yard announced. Larry Fraser, 47, and 53-year-old James Love appeared in Wimbledon’s Magistrates’ Court in southwest London ahead of an appearance at a higher court next month. The Metropolitan Police said the print was the only item stolen during the heist and that it has since been returned to Grove Gallery, which was holding an exhibition of the secretive artist’s work earlier this month. Lindor Mehmetaj, the gallery’s manager, told the BBC he was “petrified and horrified” on Monday morning when he saw the artwork had been stolen. Art collectively worth over $2.3 million was on display at the time of the robbery—all of it has since been removed and put in storage.