CAIRO, Aug 23: Egypt said on Monday it had informed Interpol and placed its police on alert at the country's entry and exit points to try to recover a Van Gogh stolen from a museum with a broken-down security system.

“Police are on alert at the borders and the airports,” he said, adding the interior ministry had informed Interpol of Saturday's theft of the Dutch master's painting, which the minister has named as “Poppy Flowers” and is also known as “Vase with Flowers”.

“The robber will not be able to sell the painting,” he said in an interview with Al Ahram daily.

A judicial source said the police had arrested the head of the culture ministry's fine arts section, Mohsen Shaalan, three museum security guards and another official on charges of negligence. The museum's woman director has been released on bail.

The painting of the yellow and red flowers in a vase had been stolen before, in 1977, but was recovered the following year.

With an estimated value of more than 50 million dollars, the latest theft took place in broad daylight from Cairos Mahmud Khalil museum after it was cut out of its frame.Al Ahram reported on Monday that the museum's security system had been out of order since Dec 2006.

Hours after the theft, Mr Hosni announced that the painting had been recovered but he later backtracked, blaming a subordinate, Shaalan, for having passed on “inaccurate” information. The museum, which has turned into the scene of a crime investigation, was due even before the theft to close within days for renovation, Hosni said.

“The museum was due for closure in several days and its contents, worth hundreds of millions of dollars, were going to be taken to the fine arts sector's safes,” he said.

Prosecutor general Abdel Meguid Mahmud acknowledged on Sunday that security measures at the museum were “inadequate”, branding them “a facade”.

“There are 43 security cameras but only seven are working. Each painting is protected by an alarm but again, none are working,” Egypts prosecutor general told reporters.

Mahmud said the state prosecution had put out a call to increase security after nine paintings were stolen in March last year from Mohammed Ali Pasha's palace, a museum on the banks of the Nile in Cairo. —AFP