KARACHI, June 23: The Drug Enforcement Cell of Pakistan Customs has arrested an Islamabad-based exporter and seized antiquities worth over Rs700 million which he was allegedly trying to smuggle to the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The consignment comprising 1,482 pieces of pre-Harappan material, Gandhara sculptures, Hindu-era sculptures, Islamic-era material, ethnological material etc was being sent by Khwaja Muneer Ahmad of the Kashmir Carpet House, Islamabad to the Craft Place of Dubai, a costums official alleged.

Exporter Khwaja Muneer had declared the consignment to be wooden furniture, brass and copper material etc worth Rs800,000. It was, however, thoroughly examined by the Customs at East Wharf and found to be comprising artefacts hidden in 66 wooden boxes in a 40-foot container.

Two deputy directors of the Archaeology and Museums Department — Bahadur Khan from Peshawar and Dr M Ashraf Khan from Taxila — were called in and they endorsed the authenticity of the goods after which a case was registered against the exporter. The accused is on a 13-day remand allowed by a local court and is undergoing investigations by the Customs at the Customs House.

Recently a consignment of antiquities was seized in New York and a top archaeology department official was sent to check it. A consignment containing pieces of a Buddhist stupa was seized at the Heathrow airport in London a couple of years back and another consignment of antiquities was seized in Sharjah recently.