Cairo museum employee suspected of stealing Van Gogh's Poppy Flowers painting

A Cairo museum employee is behind the theft in Egypt last month of Vincent Van Gogh's Poppy Flowers painting, the country's interior minister said.

The painting, worth about $55 million, was stolen from the private Mohammed Mahmoud Khalil Museum in Cairo on August 21.

"Various details of the theft prove that one of the museum employees either took part in the crime or stole the painting on his own," Habib Al-Adli said in an interview with Egypt's MENA news agency, RIA Novosti reports.

"Security services are continuing to take measures internally and externally through cooperation with Interpol and several other Arab and foreign security services," he said, adding that the theft had been a "difficult lesson."

The head of the culture ministry's fine arts sector, Mohsen Shaalan, and other senior officials are standing trial over the theft on charges of negligence, AFP informs.