London police said they arrested a man on Saturday suspected of stealing a Banksy artwork, a “traffic stop sign,” decorated with three military drones.
The British Metropolitan Police confirmed that a man in his twenties was arrested on suspicion of theft and criminal damage.
The sign was snatched less than an hour after the elusive street artist posted a photo of the work on his Instagram page on Friday.
A video clip showed a man using nail cutters as he climbed onto a bike to remove the work from a sign on a street corner in the Peckham area of south London, while another man secured the bike, and the first snatched the sign and fled with it.
A voice could be heard in a video clip of the incident saying: “I feel very upset,” as the man ran away.
A witness who wanted to be called “Alex” told the PA news agency that the small crowd of people who had come to watch the action stood watching the scene.
Alex said: “We said to him: ‘What are you doing?’ “But no one really knew what to do. We just watched it happen. We were all a bit confused; there were some car horns.”
The Metropolitan Police has asked for assistance from anyone with information about the reported theft. No arrests had been made as of late Saturday afternoon.
Yasmine Ali, Vice President of the town’s local council, called for the return of the piece of art.
“It was not meant to be removed, and we would like to have it back so everyone in the community can enjoy Banksy’s amazing work,” Ali said.
The stop sign has been replaced.
Banksy often directs his thought-provoking and satirical art to criticize wars. Many of his followers on Instagram interpreted the work as calling for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.