The rare, centuries-old instrument, worth an estimated 2.5 million euros ($3.25 million), found its way back to Austrian violinist Christian Altenburger a little more than a week after it was stolen from his apartment safe during a break-in.
Speaking to a Vienna press conference, Interior Minister Guenther Platter said six suspects, presumably all members of a single criminal gang, had been arrested in the Stradivarius theft case, and hailed its solution as a "great success."
A Vuillaume violin, valued at 120,000 euros ($156,000), and some precious jewelry items were stolen from Altenburger's apartment along with the Stradivarius while the 49-year-old musician was in Germany for a recital.
Instruments by the world's best-known violinmaker, who lived between 1644 and 1736, fetch increasingly high prices at auctions these days, with only about 600 examples believed to have survived.
A concertizing Stradivari piece sold for more than $2.7 million at Christie's this past April, and another Stradivarius went for more than $3.5 million at a sale last year.
