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Chief Detective Michael Dietz with the found painting
Photo: Police Duesseldorf / AP
A painting worth 280,000 euros accidentally landed in the waste paper container at Düsseldorf Airport.
A businessman on his way to Tel Aviv forgot the picture of the surrealist painter Yves Tanguy when he checked in at the end of November "for unclear reasons," as the police announced on Thursday.
It was only later that he noticed that he started his journey without the flat, approximately 40 by 60 centimeter large cardboard box in his hand luggage.
First of all, the man tried from Israel to find out what happened to the picture, the police said.
Then he asked his nephew, who lives in Belgium, to search - without success.
Finally, the nephew made his way to Düsseldorf and reported the loss to the airport police.
An experienced investigator took care of the case: the commissioner contacted the cleaning company.
The waste paper containers were thoroughly searched.
"In fact, the valuable painting was at the bottom," reported the police.
The relative finally picked up the work of the French painter (1900-1955) on Wednesday.
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wit / dpa / AFP
