International- A man in Ukraine who is accused of trying to steal a Banksy wall mural may face up to 12 years in prison.
- The artwork is valued around $243,900, and was left on a house in Gostomel, police said.
A Kyiv resident who is accused of orchestrating a plot to steal a Banksy wall mural may face up to 12 years in prison, Ukrainian authorities said Monday.
The artwork, which features a woman holding a fire extinguisher while clad in a dressing gown and gas mask, is worth around $243,900, Kyiv police estimated in a Facebook post.
The mural is one of several created in Ukraine by the anonymous British artist Banksy, and was left on the exterior wall of a house in Gostomel, a city near the capital of Kyiv, police wrote in the post.
According to Ukraine's Office of the Prosecutor General, the suspect, who was not named, had persuaded several people to help him steal the mural, telling them he had relevant permits to dismantle the artwork.
Kyiv investigators said on Monday that a group of people tried to take a portion of the wall on December 2, and attempted to transport it with "wooden boards and polyethylene."
A photo of the wall appears to show the mural carved out from a brick wall.
The group then wrapped the wall section in stretch film to protect it, but the suspect was caught by the authorities before he could load the mural into his car, per the Office of the Prosecutor General.
Prosecutors said the suspect intended to sell the graffiti and use the proceeds for his own spending.
A pre-trial investigation has been launched by state police of the Buchanks district, the prosecutor's office said.
Kyiv's governor, Oleksiy Kuleba, said on December 3 that the graffiti is undamaged and under the police's protection, the BBC reported.
"These images are, after all, symbols of our struggle against the enemy," he said, per the BBC. "These are stories about the support and solidarity of the entire civilized world with Ukraine."
A representative for Banksy and the Ukrainian Interior Affairs Ministry did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment.