A man has been arrested in relation to the removal of a south London stop sign annotated by Banksy, which is believed to be worth up to £500,000.
Two men were filmed using bolt cutters to remove the installation on Commercial Way, Peckham, on Friday - just one hour after the elusive street artist’s work was put on show.
Southwark Council has said it has approached the Metropolitan Police over the incident after the men were witnessed by a small crowd.
By Saturday afternoon, the force said it had arrested one man on suspicion of theft and criminal damage in connection. The suspect remains in custody.
Councillor Jasmine Ali, deputy leader of the authority, said: “Of course Banksy picked Peckham, it’s already on the map when it comes to art and is a hotbed for creativity.
“It should not have been removed and we'd like it back so everyone in the community can enjoy Banksy’s brilliant work. We have reported the removal of our sign to the police to help get it back."
The stop sign was annotated with drones by the artist, who confirmed it on Instagram shortly after midday on Friday. Since its theft it has been replaced by a standard stop sign.
“I opened Instagram and I saw it was posted four minutes before and I was about to go on my lunch break,” said Alex, who did not wish to give his second name.
“There were about two people there when I got there. We were all sort of admiring it and taking pictures.
“He put his Lime bike under the sign, stood on the bike and tried to hit the sign, he hit it with his hands and it wasn’t going anywhere.”
Alex said that nobody physically challenged either man although some motorists were blasting car horns as they saw what was going on.
“He fell off the Lime bike at one point,” Alex continued. “He disappeared and went away and about two minutes later he reappeared with bolt cutters and just sort of tried and tried and tried while everyone was watching.”
He added: “He ripped it off and ran across the road and ran away. He said nothing. He didn’t seem to care that much about the art itself.”
Anyone who may have information about the incident or the whereabouts of the sign is asked to call police on 101 quoting reference: 5742/22dec.
