FBI offers $5m reward for stolen art

Washington - US federal law enforcement on Monday released new information about one of the largest art heists in US history, saying they know where the pieces were first taken, and by whom.

The haul, worth millions of dollars and including paintings by Rembrandt and Vermeer, was taken 23 years ago from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston.

FBI investigators have identified the thieves as members of a criminal organisation based in the Mid-Atlantic states and New England, it said in a news release.

The agency believes "the art was transported to Connecticut and the Philadelphia region, and some of the art was taken to Philadelphia, where it was offered for sale by those responsible for the theft," said Richard DesLauriers, special agent in charge of the FBI's Boston office.

But that's where the FBI's knowledge of the art's whereabouts ends. Its news release also restated that a $5m reward is available for the return of the art.

"With this announcement, we want to widen the aperture of awareness of this crime to the reach the American public and others around the world," said DesLauriers.