Valuable painting left behind at airport found in the paper recycling

Dec. 11 (UPI) -- A painting worth about $340,000 was forgotten at a German airport by a businessman flying to Israel, and police rescued the misplaced artwork from the recycling.

Dusseldorf Police said the businessman arrived in Tel Aviv after his Nov. 27 flight and discovered the painting, a surrealist work by Yves Tanguy, had been left behind at the Dusseldorf Airport.

The businessman contacted the airport, but officials were unable to locate the flat cardboard box containing the painting.

The man's nephew, who lives in Belgium, traveled to Dusseldorf to join in the search and sought help from the local police.

Police contacted the cleaning company contracted by the airport and an investigator ended up searching through the waste paper recycling with a company manager.

The painting was found at the bottom of the recycling container. It was returned Wednesday to the businessman who had misplaced it.