US Returns Three Majapahit Statues to Indonesia

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"We are returning 27 artifacts that were seized from Cambodia, including the carving of Lord Shiva, and three Majapahit statues from Indonesia to their respective countries," said Bragg.

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"The investigation has not yet been completed because this syndicate must be uprooted," said Bragg.

Bragg has been the Attorney General of New York since January 2022. Under his leadership, the law enforcement agency has seized 1,200 artifacts smuggled from 25 countries. The value of these items amounts to 250 million US dollars.

Old player

The perpetrators, Subash Kapoor and Nancy Wiener, are long-time players in the world of art smuggling. Kapoor has an art gallery in New York that specializes in South and Southeast Asia. However, secretly, he is involved in a syndicate smuggling antique and historical objects from these two regions.

Kapoor not only sells stolen artifacts to private collectors but also institutions. The Australian media, ABC, reported on March 5, 2014, that the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra displayed antique Indian objects purchased from Kapoor. These objects are suspected to be stolen.

Despite this, the National Gallery of Australia proved unaware of Kapoor's illegal practices. As a result, they are not obliged to return the collection.

"We are conducting an internal investigation and there is no evidence that our collection is indeed stolen. Unless Interpol can provide concrete evidence, we will continue to preserve this collection," said the cultural institution in Australia in a statement.

Kapoor was arrested in Germany during a sting operation in 2011. From the arrest, it was discovered that he was controlling a syndicate of smuggling antiques worth 111 million US dollars. He was then sent to the Tamil Nadu state in India. In that area, he and five of his henchmen committed theft crimes. He has been imprisoned there since 2011.

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When apprehended, Kapoor was attempting to smuggle 19 artifacts with a total value of 11.4 million US dollars. In addition to being from India and Cambodia, the objects also originate from Nepal, Pakistan, and Afghanistan.

As reported by CNN on November 4th, 2022, the New York Prosecutor's Office has returned 235 artifacts stolen by Kapoor to India, including a stone gate that was previously installed at Yale University.

As for Nancy Wiener, another perpetrator of the historical heritage smuggling syndicate, she comes from a family of art curators. She also owns a gallery that sells art objects from Asia. Some of these objects are auctioned through reputable institutions, such as Christie's and Sotheby's auction houses.

The investigation has not yet been completed because this syndicate must be uprooted. (Alvin Bragg)

Just like Kapoor, Wiener also had a syndicate of theft and smuggling of antique objects. The NPR media on December 22, 2016 reported that Wiener forged documents stating that he had legitimately purchased the artifacts from private collectors. The objects smuggled by Wiener were showcased at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Los Angeles Museum, and Chicago Institute of Art. He was arrested in New York in December 2016.

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Historical artifacts have become a polemic in the modern world. Most of these artifacts are the result of European colonizers plundering countries in Asia, Africa, and America. These artifacts are then displayed in museums in Western countries. Historical objects from the Nusantara, for example, are often exhibited at the Amsterdam and Leiden museums in the Netherlands.

There is a debate stating that the West should return those artifacts to their countries of origin. Ireland and Canada have returned some pharaoh mummies, including Ramses I, to Egypt. However, there is also a debate that the West should not repatriate the artifacts before the country of origin has the ability to store, care for, and develop the study of those objects. (AP)