A customs officer made an extraordinary discovery in 2018 when he found a stolen Degas pastel hidden among worthless canvases in an abandoned suitcase. The artwork, titled "Les Choristes" (The Choristers), had mysteriously vanished nine years earlier and represents the only known work by the master depicting an opera scene without dancers.

Christian, a customs officer whose name has been changed for privacy, will remember that bus and that date for the rest of his life - February 16, 2018. On that day, he and his colleagues from the mobile customs unit prepared to inspect a bus they had been tracking since its departure from Paris. The vehicle, bound for the Balkans, was directed by the customs officers' blue motorcycles to stop at a rest area in Seine-et-Marne for what appeared to be a routine but thorough inspection.

All seventy passengers exited the bus as the luggage compartment was opened, with each traveler identifying their belongings - some claiming suitcases, others bags. When the process concluded, three suitcases remained unclaimed, a situation that didn't immediately alarm Christian since freight luggage is common on international routes. However, this routine discovery would soon reveal something far more significant.

The stolen drawing had originally disappeared during an exhibition at the Cantini Museum in Marseille. The artwork is actually a printed etching on which the painter had worked with small amounts of pastel, making it a unique hybrid piece in Degas's body of work. "Les Choristes" holds special significance as it stands alone among Degas's opera scenes for its absence of dancers, focusing instead on the chorus members.

The discovery represents part of an ongoing series examining stolen artworks, highlighting the complex world of art theft and recovery. The case demonstrates how valuable pieces can disappear for years before surfacing in unexpected circumstances, often through routine law enforcement activities rather than dedicated art crime investigations.