QUETTA: Italian police has recovered from Rome antiques stolen from Balochistan's Mehrgarh area, said a statement issued by the provincial government.

Mehrgarh, which is located in Bolan district, has a history of civilisation that goes back to thousands of years.

The Balochistan government said late on Tuesday that the Italian police had on Monday recovered the antiques from Rome, which were stolen from Mehrgarh.

The government did not give details about any arrests in relation to the theft or the value of the antiques. The recovered antiques are said to be thousands of years old and are considered highly valuable in the international market, the statement said.

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Chief Minister Balochistan Dr Abdul Malik Baloch expressed pleasure over the recovery of the antiques and directed Secretary Archives to contact the Pakistani embassy in Rome for an immediate return of the antiques.

Prominent local historian Noor Khan Mohammad Hassani told Dawn that there was no mechanism in place to guard antiques in Balochistan.

"People have stolen artifacts and material that represents our history, our identity," Hassani said, adding that certain people were stealing antiquities from Balochistan to sell them in the international market.

Mehrgarh is regarded as among the oldest civilisations across the globe, with historians saying it could be at least eight thousand years old.

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