NICE, FRANCE.-Four or five armed and hooded men stole four priceless paintings from the Museum of Fine Arts in Nice. The thieves took a Monet, a Sisley and two Bruegels. According to the police, the thieves threatened the museum staff members, took the four works of arts and placed them in bags and escaped from the museum. The painting by Claude Monet and the one by Alfred Sisley had been stolen back in 1998 but were recovered a week later. After that theft the museum curator was convicted for that theft and sentenced to five years in jail.

The Claude Monet work is titled Falaises pres de Dieppe, 1897, Alfred Sisley’s is titled Allee de peupliers de Moret, Jan Breugel’s are titled Allegorie de l'eau and Allegorie de la terre.

Monique Bailet, assistant curator of the museum stated, "One of the staff members on the first floor told me that the men told him to lie on the floor as they put the paintings in bags. They wanted to take a fifth but could not do so."

Police have launched an investigation into the theft.