Eight men have been jailed for up to six and a half years each for their roles in the robbery of Rembrandt and Renoir masterpieces from Stockholm's National Museum.

The district court in Stockholm sentenced two Swedes to six and a half and six years in prison for armed robbery, and three others to between two and four years for accessory to armed robbery.

In the raid in December 2000, three masked and armed robbers walked into the museum towards closing time and took three paintings.

They ran off in full view of museum visitors and escaped in a motorboat on a nearby waterway.

The five were also ordered to pay damages to the museum totalling 320 million kronor ($30m).

Three men, including a Moroccan national living in Sweden, received sentences of up to four years for receiving stolen goods.

Five other accused, among them a criminal lawyer charged with accessory to attempted extortion, were acquitted.

The stolen paintings included a self-portrait by Rembrandt and two paintings by Pierre-Auguste Renoir valued at up to $30m.

Police investigating a drugs case stumbled upon one of the stolen Renoirs, Conversation, in central Stockholm on 5 April.

The other paintings are still missing.