Brussels. Oct 7.—Mario Pieter Roymans, aged 21. the apprentice waiter who was arrested yesterday in connexion with the theft of the stolen Vermeer masterpiece “The Love Letter”, arrived in Brussels under heavy police escort today and was formally charged.

The police said Mr Roymans confessed to the theft and was charged with breaking and entering, and attempted extortion.

The Vermeer, they said, was found yesterday in Roymans’s room at an hotel in a small town in eastern Belgium. Valued at more than £1m, it was stolen from a Brussels museum 13 days ago.

An anonymous caller later telephoned Brussels newspapers and radio and television stations demanding a ransom of 200m francs (£1.6m) to be paid to a Belgian Roman Catholic relief organization to aid East Pakistan refugees. A police official said the painting had been damaged seriously on its right side.—Reuter.