Police in Serbia believe they found the missing Impressionist painting, a police official told the Reuters news agency.

"We believe the painting is Cezanne's 'Boy in a Red Waistcoat' and three suspects were detained in connection with that," the official said.

The arrests took place in Belgrade and Cacak, 140 kilometers (90 miles), south-west of the capital. The Serbian authorities apparently worked with foreign police forces in the operation.

"Experts in Serbia and abroad are trying to ascertain whether the painting is an original," the official added.

The canvas was stolen at gunpoint in 2008 from the Emil Georg Bührle gallery in Zurich along with three other Impressionist paintings. It was worth 100 million Swiss francs at the time.

Two of the paintings - one by Claude Monet and another by Vincent Van Gogh - were recovered days later in an abandoned car, but the Cezanne and an Edgar Degas canvas remained missing.

ncy/ng (Reuters, AP, dpa)