ISLAMABAD: The United States returned 133 stolen antiquities worth more than $13 million to Pakistan this week, state media reported. This is the fifth relocation of antiquities dating back to the Gandhara period to the South Asian country where they have been stolen.
Artefacts are artifacts, such as artworks or tools, that are of special cultural, historical, or archaeological interest.
The illicit antiquities trade is a multi-billion dollar global industry, according to a 2018 report by Standard Chartered Bank, and is often a major source of funding for supply-side criminal gangs and extremist groups, according to a report by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP).
“The United States returned 133 stolen antiquities worth more than $13 million to Pakistan in a ceremony at the Manhattan District Attorney’s office in New York on Tuesday,” Pakistan’s state-run Associated Press (APP) reported.
Some of the ancient artifacts were displayed at the ceremony, and Pakistan’s Consul General in New York, Amar Ahmed Atzai, said the artifacts would be displayed in museums across Pakistan.
“The consul general also signed an agreement with Matthew Bogdanos, an assistant district attorney in Manhattan who heads the antiquities smuggling unit, to repatriate the returned artifacts to Pakistan,” APP said.
According to APP, Bogdanos said he was happy to be able to return “Pakistan’s great heritage” to the country where civilization began 5,000 years ago.
Pakistan and the United States regularly cooperate to return stolen artifacts to Pakistan: in 2021, the US returned 192 stolen antiquities, worth about $3.4 million, after an investigation into Indian-American art dealer Shubhash Kapoor.
In August 2022, the United States once again returned to Pakistan 104 artifacts worth $3.3 million among the thousands of antiquities looted from Asian countries and confiscated from Mr. Kapoor.
