Stolen paintings by Picasso and Cândido Portinari were returned to a São Paulo museum today as police continued to hunt members of the gang that stole them.

The paintings, worth about £28 million, were recovered on Tuesday when a suspect led officers to a house on the outskirts of the city.

A helicopter and more than a dozen police vehicles escorted a small truck carrying Portrait of Suzanne Bloch by Picasso and O Lavrador de Café by Portinari, an influential Brazilian artist, back to the São Paulo Museum of Art. Museum employees applauded when the paintings arrived.

Two suspects are in custody. Local media reported that the pair had been offered £1.4 million to steal the paintings. It was also reported that the museum had received two ransom demands for the works, including a letter asking for £5 million.

The paintings were seized by three robbers armed with a crowbar and carjack on December 20 as the museum guards were changing shifts. Art experts estimated the value of the Picasso to be about £25 million and the Portinari £2 million to £3 million.

Julio Neves, the museum’s president, said that the works, which were found covered in plastic leaning against a wall inside the house, were in perfect condition and would be back on public display tomorrow with improved security.

Picasso painted Portrait of Suzanne Bloch in 1904 during his Blue Period. O Lavrador de Café, which depicts a coffee picker, was painted in 1939 and is one of Portinari’s most renowned works.

Last year a gang used a carnival street parade as cover as they stole four paintings from a Rio de Janeiro museum. Those works, valued at about £20 million, have not been recovered.

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