[MSN] Bangladeshi anti-crime agency arrested eight suspects Thursday following the theft of two rare 1, 500-year-old statues that were headed to France for an exhibition, an official said

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Bangladesh Arrests 8 After Statue Theft

By PARVEEN AHMED

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) - A Bangladeshi anti-crime agency arrested eight
suspects Thursday following the theft of two rare 1,500-year-old statues
that were headed to France for an exhibition, an official said.

Col. Gulzar Uddin Ahmed of the Rapid Action Battalion said authorities were
using information given by the suspects to carry out raids on premises near
the capital to recover two terra-cotta statues of Hindu god Vishnu.

The statues were discovered stolen Sunday from a high-security cargo area at
Dhaka's international airport.

"The suspects belong to a criminal gang, and we believe they were directly
involved in the theft," Ahmed said. He did not elaborate.

Local television reports said the statues may have been broken up and
disposed of. The private NTV network said police were questioning city
cleaners who claimed to have found pieces of the statues at various garbage
dumps.

The latest arrests come a day after an adviser to Bangladesh's cultural
affairs ministry stepped down following criticism over the theft.

Cultural Affairs and Education Adviser Ayub Quadri said he resigned for
"personal reasons."

"I am not sure if it's my personal failure. But since I am in charge of the
ministry, I share some of the responsibility," Quadri told reporters before
his resignation Wednesday.

The statues - a bust and a full-length depiction of Vishnu in fired clay -
were insured for a total of $65,000.

The Vishnus were among 143 artifacts - collected from five major museums -
that Bangladesh had agreed to send to France for an exhibition at the Guimet
Museum in Paris, due to open early next year. The first consignment of 42
objects was flown to Paris on Dec. 1.

Following an outcry over the missing statues, the government decided Tuesday
not to send the remaining artifacts to France, and plans to ask for the
return of those sent earlier to Paris, officials said.

The government informed the French Embassy in Dhaka on Wednesday that it
would not be possible to "go ahead with holding the exhibition of the items
as planned" at the Guimet Museum, Foreign Secretary Touhid Hossain said.

The embassy expressed regret over the cancellation in a statement, but said
Paris respected the government's decision.

"We fully respect this decision, while regretting the cancellation of an
event that would surely have enhanced the cultural presence of Bangladesh
throughout the world," the statement said.

Bangladesh had asked Interpol to help trace the stolen statues, and had
tightened controls along the Indian border to prevent them from being
smuggled out.

"These are masterpieces and very valuable to our cultural heritage," said
Shamsuzzaman Khan, a former head of the Bangladesh National Museum, where
the most valuable of the relics are normally housed. "The government should
not have agreed to send them abroad."

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