New York (The Hawk): Alvin Bragg, the public defender of New York, has returned to Pakistan and India hundreds of looted artefacts, some dating back 5,500 years, that were brought into the country by a network that was reportedly directed by the convicted antiquity smuggler Subash Kapoor.
According to Bragg's office in Manhattan, investigations into Kapoor's global predations in India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and other nations resulted in the seizure of 235 artefacts from India, including numerous precious images from temples.
The office claimed that the illicit goods were sold through Kapoor's Art of the Past exhibition in Manhattan.
One of the items, a marble sculpture from the 12th or 13th century known as the Arch Parikara, was returned by Yale University Art Gallery after being donated by a family foundation that had acquired it from Kapoor.
The leaders of numerous sophisticated trafficking networks, according to Bragg, "showed little respect for the cultural or historical worth of these artefacts" when they took these treasures.
The prosecutor has just begun returning stolen artwork to its original nations, including Israel, Italy, Egypt, and Cambodia.
According to Bragg's office, a total of 307 items worth around $4 million were presented to India's Consul General Randhir Jaiswal at a ceremony last month.
Five of the Indian artefacts, according to the office, were taken while Nancy Wiener and her late mother Doris Wiener were being investigated for smuggling.
A statue of Lord Vishnu and Goddess Lakshmi with Garuda from the 11th century that was taken from a temple in central India, according to the office, was taken from them and was on its way back to India.
According to his office, Bragg also delivered a Lord Vishnu statue made of sandstone that Doris Wiener had traded after stealing it from a shrine.
According to the prosecutor's office, one of the products from India was discovered during Nayef Homsi investigations, and the other 66 were taken by various minor trafficking organisations.
It said that over 2,500 items worth over $143 million that were trafficked by Kapoor and his network had been confiscated during more than ten years of investigations that began in 2011.
Despite the fact that Kapoor was one of the most active antiquities smugglers in the world, Bragg added, "due to the work of our committed detectives and analysts, we have been able to recover thousands of objects plundered by his network."
Kapoor and five of his collaborators, including Sanjivi Asokan, were found guilty earlier this month by a special court in Tamil Nadu's Kumbakonam of stealing holy objects from temples to sell abroad.
The Operation Hidden Idol arrest of Kapoor in Germany in 2011 resulted in his extradition to India, where he was given a 10-year term.
According to the prosecutor's office, arrest warrants have been issued for Kapoor and five of his collaborators, and Bragg is requesting their extradition so they can be tried in New York.
Last Monday, Bragg repatriated to Pakistan 192 statues and figurines worth a combined $3.4 million, 187 of which, according to his office, were discovered during the probe against Kapoor.
They included what are known as the Mehrgarh Dolls, terracotta statues of the mother goddess that were taken from the Mehrgarh archaeological site in Pakistan and are thought to date from between 3500 and 2600 BCE.
Another was a statue from the Gandharan era, which lasted from 1000 to 2000 BCE, showing the Lord Buddha in his Maitreya incarnation.
According to the prosecutor's office, they were taken from storage spaces owned by the Art of the Past gallery.
According to the office, the Butt Network of Zahid Parvez and Zeeshan Butt used family businesses located in Islamabad, Bangkok, Hong Kong, and Dubai to allegedly pilfer and smuggle the Maitreya statue.
It also stated that the network supplied the worldwide art market with stolen artefacts from nations such as Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India.
According to Bragg's office, five of Kapoor's accomplices — Richar Salmon, Neil Perry, Selina Mohammed, Aaron Freedman, and Sushma Sareen — have previously been found guilty in US courts.
(Inputs from Agencies)