Feds Raid Storage Locker - $20 Million of Indian Art Found

The NY Post is reporting Federal Authorities, including agents from Homeland Security raided storage lockers containing $20 million of stolen Indian antiquities.  Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents said they have been working with officials from India since 2007 on stolen antiquities coming into New York.

The NY Post reports 

They quickly began pulling out statues and other artifacts that resembled props in an Indiana Jones movie – but are worth more than $20 million, according to authorities.

"There are several dozen pieces. They're all statutes . . . and they're worth tens of millions of dollars together," said a law-enforcement source.

"They're stunning, absolutely stunning."

"Statues in bronzes and stone, some are larger than life-sized," the source said. "Some of them still have dirt on them. Many of them were taken off the sides of temples."

"There's a piece that's a [Hindu god] Shiva that's easily $3.5 million," said a law-enforcement source. "They are mostly from Chola 10th Century Indian" period, the source said.

ICE, in a press release, said the haul includes three Chola period bronze that were stolen directly from temples in Tamil Nadu, including a statue of Uma Parvati valued at nearly $2.5 million.
The source said most of the items being recovered were stolen from religious sites in India, smuggled to Hong Kong, and then shipped to New York.

A reporter watching the raid at the storage space saw a truck is nearly full with the ill-gotten booty.

The items include carved stone figurines of various sizes and subjects were visible -- as well as carved stone tablets embossed with female figures -- which were carefully loaded by the five-man crew by a dolly onto the back of the truck.

The precious cargo was placed into taped-up cardboard boxes and/or wrapped with blankets or bubble wrap. The boxes on the sides of the bed were strapped in place so they wouldn't move.

A giant stone statue of a cross-legged, portly gentleman wearing a headdress weighs about 3,000 pounds, according to one worker and was loaded onto a separate Ryder truck, which was backed in to the loading dock.

ICE said the probe into Kapoor had previously results in the seizure of dozens of antiquities worth nearly $10 million, including a five-foot tall head of Buddha weighing about 1,600 pounds and a life-sized stone figure weighing about 500 pounds. “Both items were also seized from a storage unit allegedly leased by Kapoor in New York,” ICE said.

Source: The NY Post