$3.3M In Artifacts Seized At UES Gallery Returned To Pakistan: DA

Upper East Side NY

26 August, 2021

11:43 AM

Description

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — Three antiques valued at more than $1.1 million were part of a collection of more than 100 valuable artifacts that were turned over to the people of Pakistan by the Manhattan District Attorney's Office this week after originally being seized from an Upper East Side art gallery. Authorities announced this week that the artifacts were brought to New York City as part of an international antiques trafficking operation that was being run inside the Madison Avenue gallery. During this week's repatriation ceremony, a total of 104 antiquities with a total value of $3.3 million were returned to Pakistan as part an ongoing operation. Among the items that were returned were a 3rd to 4th Century schist reliquary casket valued at $175,000, a gilded schist head of a Bodhisattva, valued at $250,000 and a 3rd to 6th Century stucco Bodhisattva, which is valued at $750,000, the prosecutor's office announced in a news release. "This magnificent collection of artifacts returned to the people of Pakistan today epitomizes that nation's rich cultural heritage and humanity's never-ending quest for enlightenment and peace," said Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance said in a news release. "It also evinces the importance of all collectors and gallery owners performing due diligence and ensuring all pieces they purchased were lawfully acquired. The District Attorney's Antiques Trafficking Unit had been investigating Subhash Kapoor, who authorities said owned and operated the Art of the Past Gallery on New York's Upper East Side. Vance said in a news release that Kapoor and other conspirators had participated in the illegal looting, exportation and sale of antiques and ancient art from Pakistan, India, Afghanistan, Cambodia, Thailand, Nepal, Indonesia and other countries out of the gallery. Between 2011 and 2020, authorities have recovered more than 2,500 antiques and other pieces from Kapoor's network, Vance said. The total value of the artifacts totaled more than $143 million. Kapoor and seven other people were indicted in 2019 and in 2020, the District Attorney's Office filed paperwork to have Kapoor extradited back to the United States and he is now in prison in India pending the completion of his trial, officials said. "I want to express my gratitude to the Manhattan District Attorney's Office and the Department of Homeland Security for their efforts in retrieving these stolen cultural treasures of Pakistan," Pakistan's Consul General Ayesha Ali said in the release. "Hopefully soon these artifacts will be displayed in Pakistani museums." As of this week, the District Attorney's Office has returned 497 antiquities to 11 nations since August 2020. "With every repatriation there is a new joy and satisfaction that goes with returning a piece of history to its home country," Peter C. Fitzhugh, special agent in charge of HSI New York said in the news release. "Each pilfered artifact tells its own story, as each line or scratch retells its journey and with this being the final chapter — going home."