More than a dozen antiquities, allegedly belonging to disgraced art dealer Subhash Kapoor, were seized from the art gallery of an Ivy League School.
Though the name of the Ivy League School is not yet revealed, it was confirmed that the objects were seized from its art gallery on Wednesday by Homeland Security. Out of the 13 antiquities seized, 12 were smuggled from India while one other was stolen from Myanmar. The objects are linked to the infamous art trafficker Subhash Kapoor.
The 72-year old Subhash Kapoor was once counted among the best art dealers in the USA, particularly for his ability to find antique artefacts in great condition. It all changed in 2011 when he was first arrested in Germany on charges of trafficking art goods. An exhaustive investigation was launched to look further into his dealings, and the results were astonishing. Around 2600 objects, smuggled by Kapoor from countries like India, Pakistan, Thailand, Myanmar, Nepal and Afghanistan, were confiscated in various raids. Yet, investigators assume that thousands more items are still missing. The seizure on Wednesday was the latest in the ongoing hunt.
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James T. Hayes Jr. (Supervising Agent of the investigation at Homeland Security) said this at the time of Kapoor’s first arrest: “From where I sit, we’re very focused on putting those smuggling networks out of business. At the end of the day, our primary responsibility is to get stolen property back to its rightful owners.” Last year, Manhattan authorities had returned 248 antiquities stolen from India by Kapoor back to the Indian government.
