[MSN] India: 'Most stolen antiques head to Europe'

[Museum Security Network Mailinglist]

'Most stolen antiques head to Europe'
Gyan Prakash
[ 23 Nov, 2006 0003hrs ISTTIMES NEWS NETWORK ]
 
PATNA: Languishing in wooden cupboards of the Patna Museum, they may not
have attracted much attention. But these eighth and ninth century bronze
statuettes were clearly marked as treasure for art connoisseurs in Brussels,
Geneva, London and Madrid who don't mind a little pilferage to add to their
collections. 

The interrogation of three persons arrested in connection with the Patna
Museum heist of September last, when 18 idols of the Pala-period were stolen
with ease and impunity from the museum, has brought to light the emergence
of Western Europe including Brussels as a major hub for antique smugglers,
the CBI has claimed. 

Rajni Kant Mishra, joint director of CBI economic offences wing, said two of
the accused - Shahid Mirza Warsi and Shahid Rashid Warsi - nabbed from
Bibiganj locality of Kolkata, had told interrogators that two of the stolen
idols were slated for the international market where they fetched very good
prices. He, however, refused to divulge the names of the buyers, who had
approached the Warsi brothers. Sources, meanwhile, suggested links between
the antiques racket and some politicians. "Most likely the two buyers were
conduits of some politicians engaged in the business of antiques," a CBI
source said. 

The interrogation of the trio, including one Vinod Yadav, has also ruled out
involvement of employees and guards of the museum in the heist. Some
employees and police guards posted there were suspended after the theft was
noticed. The incident, however, has exposed chinks in the museum's security
system and the callous manner in which night patrolling was being carried
out in the city. 

According to CBI, the thieves had visited the museum a few times earlier and
even made an aborted attempt the night before the actual theft was committed
on September 25. They had scaled the museum's north-end wall, close to
midnight on September 24, and remained there for two hours. But the
following night, they succeeded in their "operation" with the guards failing
to notice them. 

The thieves then carried the stolen idols in two gunny bags and casually
walked over 3 km without police or night patrol guards intercepting them.
Finally, they boarded a bus and reached their hideout in Nalanda, about 100
km away. 

While two of these idols were recovered from a Kolkata house, 15 others were
seized from a Nalanda village last week. One remains to be traced. The Pala
dynasty ruled Bihar and Bengal for about four centuries from the middle of
eighth century AD. 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/