KARACHI: Pakistani police said on Monday they had arrested six suspects and recovered most of the property stolen from the Islamabad home of a member of Bahawalpur’s former ruling family.

The family descends from the rulers of Bahawalpur, a former princely state that joined Pakistan in 1947.

The theft involved antiques and family heirlooms previously valued by police at around Rs20 million ($72,438). The items were taken from the residence of Prince Bahawal Abbas Khan Abbasi, son of Nawab Salahuddin Abbasi, in the capital’s F-8/3 neighborhood. The missing collection reportedly included a silver throne chair, gold plates, objects bearing the state’s crest, and antique muskets and swords.

“Between 70 and 80 percent of the stolen valuables have been recovered from the arrested suspects,” Islamabad police said in a statement, quoting Senior Superintendent of Police for Operations Qazi Ali Raza.

Police said investigators from Margalla police station used technology, footage from the capital’s Safe City surveillance cameras and information from human sources to identify and arrest the suspects.

The announcement follows police confirmation to Arab News on Sunday that a domestic worker had been arrested in connection with the theft. At the time, the officer overseeing Margalla police station did not disclose whether any property had been recovered.

“The scope of the investigation has been expanded to recover further stolen property and arrest the remaining suspects,” the latest statement said.

Police did not identify the six people arrested or specify which items had been recovered.