Alleged multi-million dollar Picasso found during drug raid
Authorities in Iraq claim to have unearthed an original Picasso painting “worth millions of dollars” during a routine drug raid in the Diyala, a central province east of Baghdad.
The alleged Picasso was in the possession of three suspects who were arrested for their alleged involvement in the trade and transport of narcotics, authorities said.
“A painting belonging to the international painter Picasso was seized in their possession,” the director of the anti-narcotics media office, Colonel Bilal Sobhi, said in a statement to the Iraqi News Agency.
Images of the artwork and details of its condition have not been disclosed, and according to the National, the painting has yet to be authenticated.
The Iraqi Ministry of Interior has also yet to share if any other notable artworks or cultural artefacts were discovered during the raids.
Colonel Sobhi said that the raid was part of a larger country-wide crackdown on the illicit drug trade that began earlier this year.
Since the operation began, authorities claim they have arrested 1,300 suspects and seized “44kg of narcotic substances” as well as “37kg of stimulants, including crystal”.
Image credits: Getty Images