Masterpieces stolen from a French museum and worth 100 million euro (A$137 million) were crushed by a rubbish truck after the thief's accomplice panicked and threw them away, he claims.
The Paris art world was aghast when a lone hooded thief loped off with five landmark works after breaking into the Musée d'Art Moderne in May last year.
The burglar, known only as Vrejan T, told detectives he climbed into the museum after removing a window frame and cutting a padlock on an iron grille.
The 43-year-old Serb claims he was there to steal Fernand Leger's Still Life with Candlestick (1922) for a local antiques dealer.
But when the museum alarm failed to sound, the Serb decided to stay longer, wandering around for a whole hour as he eluded 30 CCTV cameras and three on-duty security guards to cherry pick four other pieces — Dove with Green Peas by Pablo Picasso (1911), Pastoral by Henri Matisse (1906), Olive Tree near l'Estaque by Georges Braque (1906) and Woman with Fan by Amedeo Modigliani (1919).
He cut each canvas from its frame and rolled them up under his arm.
The Art Loss Registry in London said the robbery was "one of the biggest art heists ever, considering the estimated value, the prominence of the artists and the high profile of the museum", Britain's Telegraph newspaper reports.
The antiques dealer, known as Jean-Michel C, 56, was arrested in May this year for selling other stolen art works but denies he was in league with Vrejan T, claiming the Serb dumped the artworks at his boutique store without his consent.
However, the dealer did pass the works onto a watchmaker and recognised art expert, known as Jonathan B, 34, who reportedly found potential Israeli buyers.
When both the art dealer and burglar were arrested in May, Jonathan B told detectives he "panicked and destroyed the canvasses before throwing into a rubbish bin", French weekly newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche reports.
Police are skeptical of this account but cannot rule it out, they say.
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