[MSN] Two persons accused of stealing two 1, 500-year-old Vishnu idols from Bangladesh, have claimed that they stole the statues believing they were made of precious stones

[Museum Security Network Mailing list]

'We stole Vishnu idols for precious stone'

Dhaka (PTI): Two persons accused of stealing two 1,500-year-old Vishnu idols
from Bangladesh, have claimed that they stole the statues believing they
were made of precious stones, officials said on Tuesday.

Arrested Abbas Ali, alleged ringleader of "Abbas- Nasir" smuggling gang of
Zia International Airport (ZIA), said he and his colleague, Nasir, broke the
statutes in two in front of some neighbours, including a woman lawmaker of
Jatiya Party, and realised that those were earthen.

He said he later dumped the fragments at a garbage dumping point.

Officials at the Anti-crime Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) said as the media
started covering the theft incident, he got frightened and hid himself in a
house in Khilgaon.

RAB later arrested Ali and several of his accomplices and also detained
former lawmaker Anwara Begum.

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