OSLO - Norwegian police detained a woman on Thursday suspected of links to the unsolved 2004 theft of Edvard Munch's masterpieces "The Scream" and "Madonna" and to an alleged gang of bank robbers already on trial in Norway. "We arrested a woman early this morning at her home in Oslo," police lawyer Morten Hojem Ervik told Reuters. He declined to comment on whether police suspected that the theft of the 1893 paintings from the Munch Museum in Oslo by masked gunmen in August 2004 was linked to the gang behind the bank robbery in April last year. The woman, in her 40s, was charged with handling stolen goods after police said banknotes in her possession were from the robbery of a central bank branch in the western port of Stavanger. A policeman was shot dead by the escaping thieves. "We do not believe she took part in the robbery itself," Hojem Ervik said. He added that the woman, whose name was not released, was separately suspected of having been an accomplice in the Munch robbery, but gave no details.

Two men yanked the paintings off the walls and drove off in a car driven by a third man. Norwegian media have speculated that the theft of the paintings might have been to divert police attention from investigating the bank robbery. Murder can mean Norway's stiffest jail sentence, of 21 years. Thirteen men went on trial charged with the robbery in the western port of Stavanger this week. All deny involvement in the Munch theft. Police have separately charged six men with involvement in the Munch theft, but none have gone to trial. Three are being held in custody. Police say they believe another 10 to 15 people in the criminal underground were involved.

"The Scream" shows a human figure, hands clutching the ears and mouth agape beneath a swirling blood-red sky. The painting has become an icon of angst for a world scarred by horrors from the atom bomb to the Holocaust. "Madonna" shows a mysterious bare-breasted woman with long, flowing black hair. Both are too well known to be sold openly. Other theories hold that the paintings have been spirited out of the country for a shadowy collector or were stolen to demand a ransom from the Norwegian government. One newspaper speculated that the thieves have burnt the paintings. Reuters