ISLAMABAD: The United States has returned 104 artifacts valued at $3.3 million to Pakistan that were among thousands of antiquities looted from Asian countries and seized from New York art dealer Subhash Kapoor, the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project reported on Tuesday.
Kapoor is awaiting trial in India and is accused of running an antiquities looting enterprise worth more than $100 million. Kapoor made headlines in the art world in 2011 when he was arrested by Interpol in Frankfurt, Germany for his involvement in the trafficking of objects, which stretched throughout Afghanistan, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Thailand, among other states, and implicated the collecting practices of museums across the globe.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office filed criminal charges against Kapoor and seven coconspirators in 2019, accusing them of operating a $145 million smuggling ring that dealt with thousands of looted antiquities over a period of 30 years. So far some 497 of as many as 2,500 artifacts in Kapoor’s collection have been repatriated to 11 countries.
“This magnificent collection of artifacts returned to the people of Pakistan today epitomizes that nation’s rich cultural heritage and humanity’s never-ending quest for enlightenment and peace,” Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance, Jr. said in a statement last week.
“It also evinces the importance of all collectors and gallery owners performing due diligence and ensuring all pieces they purchased were lawfully acquired. I want to thank my Office’s Antiquities Trafficking Unit and our partners at Homeland Security Investigations for their sterling efforts that have resulted in almost 500 treasures, including nearly 150 to Pakistan, being returned to 11 countries over the past year. I look forward to further repatriations in the near future.”
Stolen Pakistani antiquities are displayed in New York, US, on August 24, 2021. (Photo courtesy: Pakistan Consulate General New York)
“With every repatriation there is a new joy and satisfaction that goes with returning a piece of history to its home country,” said Peter C. Fitzhugh, Special Agent in Charge of HSI New York. “Each pilfered artefact tells its own story, as each line or scratch retells its journey and with this being the final chapter – going home. HSI New York’s Cultural Property, Arts and Antiquities group was able close the chapter on 104 pieces today, and with our partners at the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, can provide some closure to the people of Pakistan.”
“I want to express my gratitude to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and the Department of Homeland Security for their efforts in retrieving these stolen cultural treasures of Pakistan,” Pakistan’s Consul General Ayesha Ali said. “Hopefully soon these artifacts will be displayed in Pakistani museums.”
The illegal antiquities trade is a multi-billion dollar global industry according to a 2018 report by Standard Charter Bank, and it’s beneficiaries are not just high society art aficionados like Kapoor and his Manhattan clients, but the trade is often a major funding source for criminal and militant groups on the supply side, OCCRP said.
