PESHAWAR, Oct 16: Customs and anti-smuggling special judge Safdar Shah on Wednesday directed the customs department officials to produce the statues of Buddha and other items seized by them a few days back.

The court fixed Oct 18 for the next hearing of the bail applications filed by the three accused arrested on Oct 7.

Advocates Noor Alam Khan, Abdul Rauf Rohaila and Gulab Shah appeared for  the applicants, Haji Sakhi Jan, Shoukat Hussain Siddiqui and Humayun.

The counsels raised objection about the authenticity of the seized antiquities. They contended that there was no evidence on record regarding the examination of the seized items.

The customs officials claimed that an archeologist had examined the items after their seizure at the dry port and he verified that those were original statues of Buddha. They said the expert had verbally informed the officials about the authenticity of the items.

The counsels stated that the expert had to give a proper examination  report and the seized items could not be termed genuine on the basis of  verbal assertions.

The court ordered the production of the seized items and observed that it would ascertain their genuineness.

The accused were arrested after the statues and other artifacts  were found in furniture booked for Switzerland.

The expert who examined the items claimed that those were centuries-old original statues belonging to the Gandhara civilization.

The customs officials claimed that the seized items were worth Rs7 million.

A firm, the World Plus International, had delivered the consignment  through the Mehran Customs Clearing Agency at the local dry port.