[MSN] The two ancient statues of Hindu god Vishnu were stolen and destroyed last month because they were thought to have precious stones inside, the leader of a smuggling racket has confessed to the Bangladeshi authorities. But there was nothing inside the clay statues.

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 Ancient statues stolen for precious stones that weren't there
Posted on : 2008-01-01 | Author : IANS
News Category : Asia 	

Dhaka, Jan 1 - The two ancient statues of Hindu god Vishnu were stolen and destroyed last month because they were thought to have precious stones inside, the leader of a smuggling racket has confessed to the Bangladeshi authorities. But there was nothing inside the clay statues.

The 1,500-year-old statues were broken into pieces in the presence of a former lawmaker, Anwara Begum, and some others, media reports said here Tuesday. But the statues turned out to be made of clay, the reports said, without giving any details of the exact role of the woman politician.

Abbas Ali is the alleged ringleader of a smuggling gang active at the international airport here.

The police said Ali's cohort Nasiruddin provided him information on goods kept in the airport.

Nasir used to be a janitor at the airport, but lost his job due to his alleged involvement in a theft. Later, he became a millionaire by providing crucial information for the last 20 years to the gang about goods kept in the airport, The Daily Star reported Tuesday.

Both were arrested Sunday night by the police and were paraded before the media. Abbas and Nasir said they stole the statues believing that those were made of precious stones.

The theft and destruction of the sixth century statues have caused a public outcry in Bangladesh and a diplomatic row with France. The statues were part of a consignment of 143 artefacts meant for exhibition at the Guimet Museum in Paris.

The Bangladesh government has called off the deal and Paris is blaming Dhaka for failure to ensure safety of the artefacts in the airport's warehouse.

Abbas told the media that on the night of Dec 21, Nasir, who is a driver of the civil aviation department, and two of his partners delivered the two statues, one black and another white, to his home.

He said he broke the statues to look for precious stones, but found that they were earthen. The pieces were thrown into a garbage dump. Following the outcry in the media about the theft, he went into hiding.

Police said they were looking for more janitors working at the airport.


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