KARACHI, Oct 23: Police, on late Wednesday night, arrested five suspects in defence area and recovered about 20 stolen works of art, including some of the master pieces by famous artists like Abdul Rehman Chughtai, Sadequain and others.

The town police officer, Clifton Town, Munir Ahmed Shaikh, told Dawn that complainant Mrs Tabasum Mahmood had given an application to the Darakshan police station on Wednesday alleging that her two domestic servants had stolen about 36 original paintings from her house.

The police picked up the two servants, Abid and Afsar, both brothers, who, during interrogation revealed the names of their other accomplices.

Police picked up three other suspects, Manzoor, Johnson and Iqbal Durrani, himself an artist.

Darakshan police station SHO Qaiser Ali Shah told Dawn that seven of the stolen paintings had been recovered from the art gallery of Iqbal Durrani, while the remaining works were recovered from the possession of Manzoor and Johnson.

“We have so far recovered only 20 paintings out of the 36 stated to be stolen,” the SHO told Dawn.

However, it could not be ascertained that how many paintings in the recovered lot were original, he added.

The recovered paintings of Abdul Rehman Chughtai, Jamil Naqsh, Ahmed Pervaiz and Sadquain, included landscapes, nudes and some calligraphic works, the TPO said.