Stolen Dali drawing returned by U.S. mail

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NEW YORK, June 30 (UPI) -- A Salvador Dali drawing stolen from a New York gallery was returned by Express Mail -- and the thief e-mailed the tracking number, postal inspectors said.

The U.S. Postal Inspection Service, alerted by New York police, found the drawing Friday at Kennedy International Airport, The New York Times reported.

"Cartel de Don Juan Tenorio," an 11-by-14-inch drawing valued at $150,000, was stolen June 19 from a newly opened gallery on the Upper East Side, Venus Over Manhattan. Security cameras showed a man with a shopping bag who apparently just took the drawing off the wall and walked out.

"There was a security guard standing right there, so how you don't see a young, sweaty guy with a shopping bag I don't understand," Adam Lindemann, the writer and collector who owns the gallery, told reporters at the time.

Donna Harris, a spokeswoman for the postal inspectors, said stolen art tends to be impossible to sell "because they're hot." She said the gallery got an e-mail with the Express Mail tracking number.

The drawing was mailed from Europe.