Four Thawan paintings found, but mystery shrouds case

Police in Pathum Thani have recovered four of the 113 paintings by the late National Artist Thawan Duchanee that his son reported missing.
An informed source said on Sunday that it remained unclear whether the four artworks were actually stolen. 
Thawan’s son Doytibet Duchanee claimed 113 paintings by his father were missing, estimating their combined value above Bt300 million. 
Doytibet did not say outright whom he thought was responsible for the paintings going missing, but seemed to blame his 70-year-old stepmother, Thippachat Wannakul, who was Thawan’s common-law wife for more than 30 years.
Doytibet had been in a legal battle with Thippachat as to which of them should be named executor of the artist’s estate. The Supreme Court ruled in his favour.
The Scientific Crime Detection Division will examine the four paintings at Bang Chan Police Station on Monday. 
Doytibet had appealed on Facebook for anyone in possession of his father’s paintings illegitimately to return them, but no one contacted him. 
“I managed to trace these four paintings because a famous businessman asked me to check if they were authentic,” he said.