Thomas Crown They are Not

From the "OK, that was dumb," desk:

Two unarmed men burst into Oslo's Hotel Continental, threatened staff and removed three pictures from the walls.

But the hotel had swapped the originals with duplicates after two real Munch works were stolen from the Munch Museum in the city almost a year ago.

"It's a real fiasco for the thieves," hotel manager Siv Lunde Kolrud said.

The hotel's art collection includes 12 Munch originals, which were "in a very safe place", Ms Lunde Kolrud said.

The pictures stolen on Wednesday were actually photographs of The Vampire, Self-Portrait and Melancholy, she said, adding that the frames were the only things of value.

The men who raided the Munch Museum last August are not suspected of carrying out this theft, police spokesman Vidar Hjulstad said.

"They are not like the thieves from the real Munch Museum, these are amateurs," he said. "They made a fool out of themselves."

That's the funniest thing I've heard all day!