Arrests in heist, but paintings still missing

THE HAGUE, Netherlands -- Romanian authorities have arrested three suspects in last year's multimillion-dollar art heist from a Netherlands art gallery, Dutch police said yesterday. But the paintings, by artists including Picasso, Matisse and Monet, have not been recovered.

It was the first breakthrough for police since thieves broke open an emergency exit Oct. 16 and swiped the seven pieces in a late night raid at the Kunsthal gallery in Rotterdam. The stolen works have an estimated value of tens of millions of dollars if they were sold at auction, but art experts said that would be impossible following the theft.

"Three people have been arrested, but unfortunately we have not got back the paintings," Rotterdam police spokeswoman Yvette van den Heerik told The Associated Press. A police statement later said the three were arrested as part of a Romanian investigation and not at the request of Dutch authorities.

Kunsthal spokeswoman Mariette Maaskant said gallery staff members are not yet breathing a sigh of relief. "There is no painting found yet," she said. "For us, that is the most important thing."

The stolen paintings were: Pablo Picasso's 1971 "Harlequin Head"; Claude Monet's 1901 "Waterloo Bridge, London" and "Charing Cross Bridge, London"; Henri Matisse's 1919 "Reading Girl in White and Yellow"; Paul Gauguin's 1898 "Girl in Front of Open Window"; Meyer de Haan's "Self-Portrait," around 1890, and Lucian Freud's 2002 work "Woman with Eyes Closed." -- AP