By Frederick Philander WINDHOEK An attempted burglary at the Namibia National Arts Gallery in the early hours of last Friday morning was thwarted in the nick of time, thanks to the alarm system and the quick response of a local security company. The PRO of the NNAG, Paul Hamman, told Art/Life that nothing was stolen from the premises. “The attempted burglary occurred at 04h00 on Friday. The culprits tried to break down the front door. However, the would-be thieves ran away when the alarm system went off and security guards shortly thereafter rushed onto the scene. It could have been catastrophic, bearing in mind that the valuable national art collection is stored in a vault in the building,” a relieved Hamman said. The incident happened the same day on which the director of the gallery, artist Joseph Madisia, left on a week-long art management business trip to Germany, by courtesy of the American Cultural Centre. This was apparently the first attempt by hooligans to try and break into the building since Madisia took over the management of the gallery. “The audacious thugs abortively tried to gain forced entry through the front door,” said Hamman, who confirmed that heavily armed security guards are now guarding and patrolling the government entity on a full time basis. Director Joseph Madisia returned to the country yesterday. Other African galleries have in the past suffered tremendous damages due to senseless burglaries in which irreplaceable artworks, considered to be the pride of any nation, were stolen and never recovered. “I suspect this was purely an ordinary burglary and not an organized and sophisticated attempt to steal artworks,” a relieved Hamman said. Several art exhibitions are currently on display at the Namibia National Art Gallery.