US returns stolen 15-mln-USD Picasso painting to France

But when the package was inspected, officials at the facility in Newark, New Jersey found the 33 centimeter by 46 centimeter (13 inch by 18 inch)work. The oil work was stolen from a Paris museum and discovered in New Jersey. The officer said they expect to return with the painting later Tuesday.

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement returned the stolen painting, valued at $15 million, that was stolen in 1998 and was seized in December 2014.

When Pablo Picasso died in 1973, he left a colossal collection of paintings, drawings, sculptures…”The Hairdresser” dates back to the Spanish painter’s Cubist era, at the beginning of the 20th century.

“We are committed to extracting stolen cultural property from the grasp of the black market and restoring it to its rightful owners”, added Kelly Currie, the US federal prosecutor for the eastern district of New York, in a statement.

“It’s genuinely amusing (and) therefore valuable – not just personal nation, nevertheless the world”, said Glaciers manager Sarah Saldana along at the handover wedding.

Customs and Border Protection agents in the US later notified officials within the French government and Museum of Modern Art in Paris of the discovery.

The investigation into the theft of the painting and its shipping to the US is ongoing. The painting was last seen on public display in Munich, Germany, in 1988.

“Picasso used to say: “A painting truly exists in the eyes of the beholder”, Dore said at the embassy, where the painting was formally returned.