Romanians plead guilty to stealing Dutch art believed torched

Three Romanians have pleaded guilty to stealing seven paintings, including works by Pablo Picasso, Claude Monet and Henri Matisse, from a Dutch museum in a daring daytime raid that shocked the art world.

The suspects Radu Dogaru, Alexandru Bitu and Eugen Darie told a Bucharest court today that they took the multimillion-dollar paintings from Kunsthal Museum in October 2012.

The works have never been found.

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In their depositions to prosecutors, the suspects said they brought the paintings to Romania, tried to sell them on the black market, then left them with Olga Dogaru, the chief suspect's mother.

• Alleged art thief's mother may have torched Picasso, Monet

She told investigators she burned the paintings, and a Romanian museum said that ash found in a stove at her home contained paint, canvas and nails. But she later denied that her story was true.