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The
Catalonia regional police force Mossos d'Esquadra said on
Thursday it had raided a workshop inside an apartment in the
city of Zaragoza, where the forgers created the fake works
before distributing them through auction rooms, antique shops or
online platforms.
Investigators have seized nine works and recorded at least 25
sales to victims in Spain, Germany, Switzerland, the United
States and Scotland, the Mossos added in a statement. Four
people are under investigation, charged with fraud and crimes
against intellectual property
According to the police, "a couple of young followers of
Banksy's street art with economic problems" created Banksy-style
works with stencils and ink stamps from the Zaragoza workshop,
which they at first sold at prices no higher than 80 euros.
But a distributor "with knowledge of the functioning of the
graphic work market", in collaboration with an "interested
distribution entity", made fake certificates attributing the
works to the secretive Banksy, whose identity has never been
revealed.
The artworks were presented as being part of Banksy's "Dismaland"
project, a 2015 theme park-style installation in the British
town of Weston-super-Mare.
But the company Pest Control, the only body that certifies
Banksy's oeuvre, found that both the artworks and certificates
were false.
"The investigation remains open and further victims and new
arrests are not ruled out," the Mossos added.
($1 = 0.9147 euros)
(Reporting by David Latona; Editing by Alison Williams)
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