'Greedy' property owner removes slab of wall with Banksy artwork - and hides it in mystery location

2 years ago
28

This is the moment an entire section of a shop wall featuring a valuable Banksy artwork is removed - before being hidden in a mystery location.

The brick and plaster section was carefully cut out of the wall of an empty electrical shop by removal experts at the weekend.

The shop was previously on the market for £300,00.

However but it saw its value leap by at least another £200,000 after Banksy's work, which showed a child with a crowbar, appeared in August.

But now the property's owner has decided to remove the artwork from the building in Lowestoft, Suffolk.

A video shows a yellow telehandler tearing out part of the wall featuring the graffiti, which was protected with a screen and wooden boards.

Workmen then loaded the wall slab onto a truck, which took it to an undisclosed location.

It remains unclear whether the artwork will be sold at auction, though previous Banksy pieces have reeled in millions under the hammer.

Furious locals have blasted the proprietor for removing the artwork, which was one of 10 pieces made in Banksy's 'Great British Spraycation' project on the east coast of England.

On Facebook, resident Brandon Eames described the removal as "stupidity" and "disrespectful".

He wrote: "Now being shipped off to sell at public auction.. This is terrible. Why spend the money to protect it then just take it away..."

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