There has been a significant development in the case of the theft of Antonello da Messina’s paintings, which occurred on the night of Ferragosto at the “Maria Accascina” Regional Museum in Messina. One of the four security guards on duty on the evening of August 15 has been placed under investigation by the Messina District Attorney’s Office for giving false testimony to the prosecutor. This was reported by *La Repubblica* in an article by correspondent Salvo Palazzolo. The man had been summoned in recent days to the courthouse along with three other colleagues, initially as a person with knowledge of the facts, but his questioning was interrupted by the magistrates after too many contradictions emerged compared to the accounts provided by the other employees.
During the interrogation, the custodian reportedly touched on the issue of the alarm, but his account did not convince the investigators, particularly regarding the chronology of events. This led to the decision to change his status in the investigation and proceed against him for perjury.
The main point of contention concerns the museum’s alarm system and what happened while the thieves were inside the building. According to what has emerged so far, one of the custodians stated that he did not notice the alarm. Another, however, admitted to hearing the siren and turning it off, believing it to be a false alarm. Yet another reportedly stated that the system was reactivated after four minutes. It is precisely the sequence of these events that investigators are trying to clarify.
The prosecutor’s office aims to determine whether what happened was merely the result of serious errors in security management or whether there was someone within the security team who played a more direct role in facilitating the heist. In fact, investigators have not ruled out the possibility of a mole or an inside accomplice. What makes this line of inquiry particularly sensitive is the thieves’ behavior: according to the reconstruction of events so far, they moved through the museum with remarkable confidence, demonstrating familiarity with the building and knowing exactly how to reach the artworks.
The investigation, conducted by the Messina Mobile Squad and the Carabinieri’s Cultural Heritage Protection Unit under the coordination of Messina Prosecutor Antonio D’Amato, has in the meantime made it possible to reconstruct several stages of the break-in. The thieves, dressed in black and with their faces covered by helmets, entered the rear area of the museum around 8:47 p.m., after prying open the bars of the outer fence. They used a crowbar to gain access to the building. The door through which they entered was not protected by the alarm system, which was triggered only when the criminals reached the room housing the works of Antonello da Messina. Security cameras captured them in the act: the thieves removed five panels from the San Giorgio Polyptych and smashed the display case housing the double-sided panel.
In total, four panels were stolen—three from the San Gregorio Polyptych and the double-sided panel depicting the Madonna, the Child, and a Franciscan saint, as well as the Christ in Pietà—while two of the panels from the polyptych were abandoned during the escape. It was precisely the discovery of these two panels that alerted the police to the incident. In fact, it was a resident who reported the presence of the abandoned works after coming across the two panels in front of the museum. It was therefore a police patrol that alerted the custodians, rather than the security staff contacting law enforcement on their own initiative. In fact, none of the custodians reportedly called 112 after the alarm was triggered. This is one of the points investigators are now focusing on, along with the differing accounts provided by the staff regarding the operation of the siren and the reactivation of the system.
The security team consisted of four people: two men and two women. They are regional employees and workers participating in a community service program. Following the theft, all four were placed on mandatory leave. The inclusion of one of the security guards on the list of suspects thus represents a first step in the investigation, which is not limited to determining individual responsibilities regarding security management but also aims to establish whether the thieves may have had access to inside information.
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| Theft of a work by Antonello da Messina; a custodian is under investigation for perjury. Suspicions of a mole |
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