BAGHDAD (EFE).- A painting by Pablo Picasso believed to have been stolen during the 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait has been found in the possession of an Iraqi man in Babel, south of Baghdad, the Al Sabah newspaper reported Wednesday.

Police launched a sweep in Yebla, an area in Babel province, after intelligence indicated the painting was being kept by someone in the area, the newspaper said, citing unnamed sources.

Officers arrested the man who had Picasso's "La Mujer Desnuda," which is worth an estimated $10 million and bears the seal of the Kuwaiti National Museum.

The suspect, said to have served in the security forces under Saddam Hussein, told police he planned to sell the painting for about $450,000.

This is not the first case involving a Picasso looted from Kuwait.

Turkish police found the same painting in an automobile coming from Iraq during a search on Nov. 15, 2000.

Turkish legislator Mustapha Bayram was arrested five months later when he tried to sell "La Mujer Desnuda" and "El Payaso," another work by Picasso.

Bayram said he bought the paintings from a woman who had obtained them from an Iraqi general.

Tests later found that the paintings were fakes. EFE