Agents from the Guardia Civil have arrested four people and recovered seven valuable paintings by different artists, including one by Salvador Dalí and another by Joaquín Sorolla, which were stolen in 2002 from a chalet in Adanero (Ávila) and which are thought to be worth four million euros.

According to a statement by the police in Ávila, the investigation was opened in 2002 when a member of the public reported a burglary in their home in Adanero.

The stolen paintings - a Dalí entitled "Transcendental Human Action", two portraits by Sorolla and Condé Delgrás, a floral painting by Rosen Roses, a 16th century portait by Hernán Cortés and two charcoal drawings by Gustavo Doré and Nicanor Piñole - were recovered during a police search of a private property in Valdemoro (Madrid).

Operation "Alejandro" launched by the police nine years ago and which included a thorough forensice examination of the scence of the crime, led police to the offenders: 52-year-old M.A.A.L.; 28-year-old C.G.D.A.; 26-year-old G.J.G.A. and 31-year-old M.G.A., all originally from Madrid and living in Valdemoro.

The modus operandi used by the thieves made the investigators focus on the victim's immediate social circle, and although initially they did not get any conclusive data, a fingerprint comparison in June finally allowed them to confirm the four people who have been arrested as the authors of the crime.