A Viennese forwarding agent made himself suspicious of the Austrian criminal police when he left several inquiries on a database for stolen art.
The investigators assume that the man stole works worth a total of 1.3 million euros in the course of his work, including drawings by Gustav Klimt and prints by Egon Schiele, as reported by the Vienna police.
He kept his prey hidden in his parents' attic.
The case became public after the 45-year-old man searched the London Art Loss Register database for an 11th-century Chinese bronze vessel.
The item was not registered there.
For this it was registered as stolen in the art database of the international police authority Interpol.
So Interpol found out about the search.
The shipping agent was already in contact with an international auction house to which he wanted to sell the bronze vessel.
Just in time, the Austrian authorities were able to save the antique object together with five other works of art from the suspect's parents' house.
The man has already confessed to his thefts in view of the burden of proof, the police reported.