QUETTA: Antiques pertaining to the Buddha era stolen from Mehrgarh area of Balochistan have been recovered in Italy.

A provincial government spokesman told Dawn on Wednesday that the Italian government had informed the authorities in Islamabad that they had recovered the antiques smuggled from Pakistan.

“The antiques, including statues of Buddha, had been found during digging at Mehrgarh in the mountainous region of Bolan Pass. They were later stolen and smuggled to Italy,” he said.

He said smugglers sold the antiques in Italy at a lucrative price.

Earlier, Chief Minister Dr Abdul Malik Baloch said a request had been made to the federal government to approach the Italian government for bringing the antiques back to Balochistan.

Artefacts had been found during digging at Mehrgarh

A senior official said that the theft took place in connivance with some government employees and smuggled to Europe via sea. “Some black sheep in government departments helped smuggle the antiques out of Pakistan.”

The excavation at Mehrgarh was carried out by French archaeologist Jean Francois Jarrige and the French Consulate in Pakistan had extended financial cooperation for the purpose. The Mehrgarh civilisation is said to be 8,000 years old.

Officials told Dawn that a mafia was involved in the smuggling of antiques from centuries old civilisations of Loralai, Zhob, Bolan and Jhal Magsi districts of Balochistan.

Published in Dawn, October 30th , 2014