Lebanon arrests 4 people over stolen Salvador Dali painting

BEIRUT – A Lebanese police official says police have arrested four people who were trying to sell a stolen painting believed to be by Spanish artist Salvador Dali.

Col. Joseph Mussallam told The Associated Press on Friday that the four detained are a Lebanese and three Syrians who were trying to sell the 1954 painting known as “Portrait of Mrs. Reeves” to a Lebanese woman living in France for $5 million.

Mussallam says a detained Syrian told authorities he bought the painting from an Iraqi and kept it for 12 years before trying to sell through a Lebanese agent.

He says a Lebanese expert has examined the painting and found it to be authentic but that Lebanon has also asked international experts to examine it as well.