New York: The US, after nearly 15 years of investigation, has returned 307 antiquities to India that were stolen or smuggled out of the country. The cost of these items is about 4 million US dollars. Most of these items were recovered from the infamous businessman Subhash Kapoor. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg on Monday announced the return of 307 antiques worth nearly $4 million to India. Bragg said 235 of these items were confiscated by the Manhattan District Attorney’s office in a raid conducted against Kapoor.
Kapoor “facilitates smuggling of goods from Afghanistan, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and other countries.” According to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, the antiques were handed over to India during a ceremony at the Indian Consulate in New York. India’s Consul General Randhir Jaiswal and US Department of Homeland Security’s ‘Investigation Acting Deputy Special Agent-in-Charge Christopher Lau attended the event.
Bragg said, “These antiques were stolen from several places by gangs of smugglers. The kings of these gangs showed no respect for the cultural and historical importance of the objects.” “We are proud to have returned hundreds of these items to the people of India,” he said. Last year also, the US returned 157 antiques during the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to America.
