American Museum to Return 7 Stolen Antiquities to India

 A Honolulu museum has handed over seven antiquities believed to have been stolen from India and smuggled into the US before being sold by dealer Subhash Kapoor.

The Honolulu Museum of Art handed over the seven antiquities to personnel from the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) yesterday following a probe during which it emerged that the objects had been stolen from temples and ancient Buddhist sites in India and brought to the US illegally. ICE agents will bring back the items here to be eventually returned to the Indian government. Authorities said the museum was not aware that the stone objects had been stolen when they were added to its collection between 1991 and 2003. [...] The statues were seized as part of an HSI Cultural Property, Art and Antiquities Programme investigation titled 'Operation Hidden Idol'.

The investigation into Kapoor's activities uncovered that he allegedly created false provenances to disguise the histories of his illicit antiquities. Even so, that does not absolve museums from their due diligence obligations.

'American Museum to Return 7 Stolen Antiquities to India' NDTV April 02, 2015