Stolen Indian Art
There were several different stolen Indian antiquities, as seen at the Honolulu Museum, that were taken between 1991 and 2003, without anyone knowing who was to blame. They mysteriously appeared at the Honolulu Museum of Art and authorities have been promptly investigating all aspects of the crime.
The museum is not going to be held responsible for this particular incident, as they did not personally know that the antiquities were stolen when they acquired them. The main suspect is currently Subhash Kapoor, who will be on trial in India. He is known for being a notorious art dealer. From what is currently known, the antiquities were smuggled out of India and into the United States unbeknownst to the authorities in charge.
Motive for Stealing Art
The pieces that were among the stolen Indian antiquities included a five foot tall head of Buddha, a bronze sculpture depicting Uma Parvati, and a life-sized stone figure. Between these and many other items that were recovered, the value is over $100 million for all of them. It is not currently known how Kapoor obtained all of these pieces in the first place, but there are some theories as to his motive.
When art dealers smuggle rare pieces like this and then give them to another museum, it could very well be for tax benefits as well as keeping their names cleared. This way they can profit on what they have stolen without actually selling it. This is also a notoriously known method for many art dealers to deal with this kind of situation.
Stolen Indian Antiquities Returned To the Country
Once the Honolulu Art Museum realized that what they had were stolen Indian antiquities taken by Subash Kapoor, they immediately called authorities and arranged to have them returned to the Indian Consulate. Museums are also becoming more stringent about verifying the history behind pieces that they accept before placing them on exhibit. This is definitely helping to lower the incidences of stolen art becoming part of another museum, but it unfortunately does not stop smugglers from trying this anyway.
There are several different agencies that are currently working on this case and have been very thorough about checking all possible leads and ways to understand how this happened. Among those involved are the Homeland Security Investigations and the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement. They have called this particular mission “operation Hidden Idol”.
The issue will finally come to an end with ICE returning the stolen Indian antiquities sometime in the near future, once all of the details have been taken care of. The Honolulu Museum apologized for the incident and has said they will be performing more background checks on any piece that they agree to take into their possession from now on.
In the future, both homeland security and ICE are working with all of the different museums here in the United States to enforce stronger regulations and to help them to know what to look for so that they can recognize stolen objects much quicker. By doing this they will be able to save the museums that are affected from financial hardship and keep the thieves from being able to cause any more harm in the future.
