Banksy’s new work was stolen surprisingly quickly in front of the public

Two men were caught on video removing a piece of art created by Banksy from a south London street less than an hour after it was confirmed to be a genuine installation, The Guardian writes.

The artist confirmed that the painting – a stop sign covered in three planes said to resemble military drones – was his in a social media post shortly after noon on Friday.

In video posted to social media, viewers watch two men remove the sign at the junction of Southampton Way and Commercial Way in Peckham at around 12.30pm on Friday.

Bystanders can be heard saying “oh my god” on the video’s soundtrack as one of the men runs a stop sign and runs away, and one woman says: “This is so annoying.”

Southwark Council deputy leader Jasmine Ali said the artwork “should never have been removed”, adding: “We would like to bring it back so everyone in the community can enjoy Banksy’s brilliant work.” She said the theft was reported to police “to help get it back.”

The Metropolitan Police said they were aware of the incident and said the stop sign was replaced later on Friday to avoid danger to road users.

It is obvious that Banksy was not behind its removal, writes The Guardian.

The selection of photographs was uploaded to the artist’s social media page without a caption or explanation to confirm its authenticity.

Due to the artist’s fame, selling a stolen Banksy work may be difficult. Last year, three men in their 30s were jailed in France for stealing and mistreating a Banksy painting dedicated to the victims of the 2015 Bataclan concert hall attack in Paris.

Six months later, in a separate incident, eight people were detained in connection with the theft of a Banksy mural from a wall on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukrainian authorities said.

Banksy will issue certificates of authenticity to works of art that are not believed to be stolen or improperly transferred into private hands through the artist’s pest control team, which handles the authentication.

In 2019, the man who removed a Banksy sculpture from its pedestal in central London contacted police after it was stolen from him and put up for sale at Sotheby’s.

Auction notes said the work had been “mysteriously returned”, suggesting it had been stolen by Banksy or his associates, and after consulting with police, Sotheby’s said it was satisfied the seller had the legal right to auction the work.

The planes at the stop sign were reminiscent of the planes in Banksy’s 2017 painting Civil Drone Strike, which depicted three drones bombing a child’s drawing of a house. It was sold at the Art The Arms Fair and raised £205,000 for the deferment and campaign against the arms trade.

Banksy has installed several other works this year, including the 3.8-tonne Valentine’s Day Mascara mural, which appeared on the side of a house in Margate, Kent, on Valentine’s Day. The mural depicted a 1950s housewife with a swollen eye and missing tooth, wearing an apron and yellow dishwashing gloves, throwing a man into the freezer. In September it was displayed in the foyer of the Art of Banksy exhibition on Regent Street in central London, where it could be viewed for free.