New Delhi: In a major victory for cultural preservation, the United States has repatriated over 1,400 looted Indian artifacts valued at 10 million dollars. This substantial return, announced on Wednesday, is the latest triumph in an ongoing initiative to combat the illicit trafficking of cultural heritage items from South and Southeast Asia.
The artifacts, recovered as part of a wider investigation into international criminal trafficking networks, were formally returned to India during a ceremony at the Indian consulate in New York, CNN reported.
Among the recovered treasures is a sandstone sculpture of a celestial dancer, a piece smuggled from central India to London before finding its way to the collection of a patron of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met) in New York. This repatriation highlights the successful collaboration between U.S. authorities and India in recovering stolen cultural patrimony.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s office specifically credits the ongoing investigations into the criminal activities of notorious art traffickers Subhash Kapoor and Nancy Wiener. Kapoor, an American antiquities dealer, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for operating a multimillion-dollar looting network operating under the guise of his New York gallery. While Kapoor’s extradition from India, where he’s currently serving time for antiquities trafficking, remains pending, his conviction plays a critical role in the success of the ongoing investigations and repatriation efforts.
William S. Walker, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations New York, lauded the repatriation as a significant victory in a multi-year international investigation targeting one of history’s most prolific art criminals. “Today’s repatriation marks another victory in what has been a multi-year, international investigation into antiquities trafficked by one of history’s most prolific offenders.”
This latest return builds upon a previous repatriation of 297 artifacts in September, a collection spanning nearly 4,000 years of Indian history and encompassing various materials and origins across the country.
This successful collaboration between the U.S. and India, cemented by the signing of their first-ever “Cultural Property Agreement” in July, sets a precedent for international cooperation in preserving global cultural heritage and combating the lucrative illegal antiquities trade. Since 2016, the U.S. has returned a total of 578 cultural artifacts to India, a number unparalleled by any other nation.
Notably, India and the US signed the first ever “Cultural Property Agreement” in July to prevent and control the illicit trafficking of antiquities from India to the US signed by the ministry’s secretary Govind Mohan and Ambassador of the US to India, HE Eric Garcetti.
“Majority of the antiquities are terracotta artefacts from Eastern India, while others are made in stone, metal, wood and ivory and belong to different parts of the country,” a press release from the Ministry of External Affairs.
The statement said that the total number of cultural artefacts returned from US to India since 2016 stands at 578. “This is the maximum number of cultural artefacts returned by any country to India,” the release added.
