Norwegian police have today recovered The Scream and another stolen masterpiece by Edvard Munch two years after they were stolen from an Oslo museum by armed men.

It is believed that they were recovered by undercover police officers who had spent months posing as potential buyers of the stolen works of art.

"The pictures came into our hands this afternoon after a successful police action," said Iver Stensrud, head of the police investigation at a press conference, who said he would not elaborate.

He said his officers had been working for two years to find the paintings. "All that remains is an expert examination to confirm with 100-per cent certainty, that these are the original paintings. We believe these are the originals."

He said that the "damage was much less than feared" and that he believed the paintings had been in Norway the whole time.

"We feel we have been hot on the trail of the paintings the whole time, but it has taken time," he said

Police have been hunting all over the world for the priceless art works and the City of Oslo, which owns the paintings, offered of a 2 million kroner (£154,500) reward for their return.

Two armed men broke into the Munch Museum in Oslo in August 2004 and yanked the two works from the walls in front of dozens of terrified tourists. Mr Stensrud said that the men convicted had not contributed to the recovery of the paintings.

The paintings, both from 1893, have been missing even though three men were convicted in May of taking part in the theft and were sentenced to up to eight years in jail. Two of them were ordered to pay $122 million in damages - although it was not clear today whether that bill will be lifted.

The Scream depicts a terrified figure under a blood-red sky. The other painting, Madonna, shows a bare-breasted woman with long black hair.

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