LONDON, Dec 15: An illegal shipment of six ancient Indian religious statues valued between 25,000 and 30,000 pounds, which were seized by the UK customs in August last year at Heathrow airport, were handed over on Thursday to the Indian High Commission here for their journey back to India.

The seized consignment, weighing a total of 172kg, contained a seventh century figure of a mother goddess (possibly Indrani), two tenth century figures of Buddha, a tenth century figure of a Hindu goddess (probably Durga), an eleventh century figure of the Hindu and Vedic god Agni, and an eleventh century figure of a temple-goer.

The consignment was initially detained on suspicion that it contained smuggled antiquities. Once this was confirmed, the consignment was officially seized and left at the British Museum on deposit.

Dr Michael Willis, Curator of the Ancient Indian and Himalayan Collections at the British Museum examined the statues. He confirmed that the statues came from the Bihar region of India and dated to between the seventh and eleventh centuries AD.

The Indian Deputy High Commissioner, Ranjan Mathai, along with the Culture Minister and Director of the Nehru Centre, Monika Kapil Mohta, received the statues on behalf of the Archaeological Survey of India at the British Museum where they have been held in trust.

The Nehru Centre, the cultural wing of the Indian High Commission in London will be sending the statues back to India. Dr Michael Willis said: “The British Museum has worked with HM Revenue & Customs for over 35 years on investigations into illegally imported antiquities. This is a vital relationship in the fight against the illicit trade in antiquities.”

Financial Secretary to the Treasury John Healey MP said: “I am pleased to announce the return of these historical statues to the Indian people. The government fully recognises the importance of historical artefacts to our shared cultural heritage and takes its role in enforcing international agreements and prohibitions designed to preserve our historic environment very seriously. “The international trade in illicit cultural artefacts is a significant problem and is increasingly being linked to other forms of organised crime. Where ancient sites are plundered for short-term gain, this results both in the loss of heritage items to indigenous peoples and irreparable damage to archaeological sites.”