Story By: James King, Sub-Editor: Marija Stojkoska, Agency: Newsflash

A painting worth over GBP 250,000 has been rescued from being recycled as old paper moments before it was due to be crushed.

The valuable painting by artist Yves Tanguy, valued at EUR 280,000 (GBP 250K), had been acquired by an Israeli businessman who carried it in his hand luggage at Dusseldorf International Airport in Germany on 27th November.

He was planning to travel to Tel Aviv via Turkey, and at the check-in counter left the flat cardboard box with the 40cm x 60cm artwork behind.

When he realised what happened, the businessman contacted his nephew in Belgium, and when he failed to locate the missing packet, the owner contacted the police in person the next day.

Because of the value of the painting, the case was taken up by Chief Detective Michael Dietz who went through the usual lost property channels and looked at the CCTV cameras, all without success.

He said that he then decided to contact the cleaning company on Monday, and met the property manager who told him that all the waste paper gathered from the week had been put into three loads for recycling.

The machines squash all of the waste paper into a huge bail which is then sent away to be recycled.

Two of the loads had already been turned into bales and dispatched, however the third was still waiting to go, and the two men searched it and managed to find the painting.

This week, the painting was handed over to the nephew and the police officer was thanked by the businessman in Israel by email.

Most importantly, a valuable painting by the French surrealist painter (1900-1955) that was almost lost forever is now safe once again.

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