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US Returns Ancient 'Shiva Triad' To Cambodia Amongst Other Stolen Artifacts Worth $3 Million

New York prosecutors announced that they had returned 20 antiquities that were looted, sold or illegally transferred by networks of American dealers and traffickers. The total value of the antiquities was $3 million.

Times Now Digital

Updated Apr 27, 2024, 16:19 IST

Antiquities returned that were looted, sold or illegally transferred (Photo: Instagram)

New York: New York prosecutors announced on Friday that they had returned to Cambodia and Indonesia 20 antiquities that were looted, sold or illegally transferred by networks of American dealers and traffickers. The total value of the antiquities was $3 million, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said.

Bragg said in a statement that he had returned 27 pieces to Phnom Penh and three to Jakarta in two recent repatriation ceremonies. The pieces included a bronze of the Hindu deity Shiva ("Shiva Triad") looted from Cambodia and a stone bas-relief which depicted two royal figures from Majapahit empire (from the 13th to 16th century), which was stolen from Indonesia.

Bragg accused art dealers Subhash Kapoor, who is an Indian-American, and Nancy Wiener in the illegal trafficking of the antiquities. Kapoor, who has been accused of running a network trafficking in items stolen in Southeast Asia for sale in his Manhattan gallery, has been the subject of a US justice investigation dubbed "Hidden Idol" for more than a decade.

Kapoor was sent back to India after being arrested in 2011 in Germany. In India, he was tried and sentenced to 13 years in prison in November 2022. Kapoor denied the charges made against him in the US indictment for conspiracy to traffic in stolen works of art.

"We are continuing to investigate the wide-ranging trafficking networks that... target Southeast Asian antiquities," Bragg said. "There is clearly still more work to do."

Wiener, who was sentenced in 2021 for trafficking in stolen works of art, sought to sell the bronze Shiva but ended up donating the piece to the Denver (Colorado) Museum of Art in 2007.

The antiquity was seized by the New York courts in 2023. During Bragg's tenure, the Antiquities trafficking unit has recovered around 1,200 items which were stolen from more than 25 countries, and valued at more than $250 million in total.

New York, being a major trafficking hub, has witnessed several works being seized in recent years from museums, including the famous Metropolitan Museum of Art, and from collectors.

(With inputs from agencies)

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