Surrealism second-thoughts

Greek national Phivos Lampros Istavrioglou, 29, walked into New York's Venus Over Manhattan gallery last June and snatched a Salvador Dali painting right off the wall. He carried away the 1949 work "Cartel de Don Juan Tenorio" (IMAGE ABOVE), worth an estimated $150,000 (£98,000), in a bag. Days later, he regretted his actions and sent the painting back anonymously in a cardboard tube from his home country. Unfortunately for him, police were able to identify the thief caught on camera by his fingerprints which were on file from a previous theft. Announcing the charges of grand larceny, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr., said, "It was almost surreal how this theft was committed - a thief is accused of putting a valuable Salvador Dali drawing into a shopping bag in the middle of the afternoon, in full view of surveillance cameras."

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