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Manhattan DA Announces Return of Trafficked Antiquities to Pakistan
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The District Attorney (D.A.) of Manhattan in New York announced on Wednesday, May 22, that the United States government will be returning 133 trafficked antiquities seized from art trafficking operations back to the government of Pakistan.
The announcement came as D.A. Alvin L. Bragg, Jr. returned the works in a ceremony with Pakistani Consul General Aamer Ahmed Atozai, among others in attendance. Both Bragg and Atozai praised the return as essential to ensuring the legality of any artwork or artifact shown here.
“These artifacts are now being returned to where they belong. This repatriation is more than the return of physical objects; it is the restoration of a part of Pakistan’s soul and identity,” Atozai said.
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Art Trafficking Networks
The press release by the government underlined the seizure of these antiques from criminal trafficking networks targeting them specifically. The DA linked two prolific art traffickers, Subhash Kapoor and Richard Beale, to the case.
Kapoor is described as “one of the world’s most prolific antiquities smugglers” by the press and authorities. A former gallery owner in New York, authorities accused him of leading an art smuggling operation in South and Southeast Asia. He sold his smuggled goods through his gallery Art of the Past, with the value of his smuggled goods exceeding $143 million.
Authorities collected over 2,500 smuggled artifacts from their investigation of Kapoor’s network over the past decade. Authorities arrested him and five of his co-conspirators, and charged them with illegal looting and exploitation of artifacts. Kapoor is currently awaiting extradition to India where he will serve ten years in prison.
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Beale, meanwhile, was captured by authorities after attempting to smuggle antique gold coins into the country. He reportedly acquired his gold coins from dealer Italo Vecchi, who has had his own share of notoriety for his decades of sales for such antique coins. Courts convicted both of them for trafficking-related charges in 2023.
Authorities are still investigating Beale and Vecchi’s network in their attempt to dismantle it.
“These 133 pieces of stolen history were being sold through black-market deals at the hands of antiquities traffickers. HSI (Homeland Security Investigations) stands at the forefront in investigating crimes related to the unlawful trafficking and dissemination of cultural treasures and ancient relics,” Special Agent Ivan Arvelo said.
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Pakistani Artifacts
The Manhattan DA highlighted some of the returned artifacts. This includes a Gold Strato I Coin allegedly minted sometime between 105-85 B.C.E. The DA also showcased a stone head of a Bodhisattva wearing an “elaborate headdress with central lotus flower.” The former was taken from Beale’s arrest, while the latter was found in a storage facility owned by Kapoor.
Bragg featured this act of repatriation as an important part of Manhattan’s image as an international place of culture. “We will continue to celebrate Manhattan’s status as one of the cultural capitals of the world, while doing everything possible to ensure that the antiquities sitting in our galleries and museums arrived here legally,” he said.
Related reading: Why Won’t the UK Return Looted Artifacts to Their Countries of Origin?
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