Stolen Salvador Dali painting returned by mail

The Cartel des Don Juan Tenorio, worth an estimated $150,000 (£94,000), was taken from the Venus Over Manhattan art gallery on 19 June (12).

Security footage showed a man removing the 1949 surrealist work from a wall and stuffing it into his bag, and police launched an investigation into the theft to recover the item.

However, the painting was shipped back to the gallery on Friday (29Jun12) by an unidentified sender, who emailed venue bosses last week to notify them of the mailed package and even provided them with a tracking number.

A source tells the New York Post, “It was addressed to the gallery, and it had a return address, but (the return address) appears to be bogus and the name is illegible.”