PESHAWAR, June 30: Customs staff foiled an attempt to smuggle six Buddha statues of Gandhara civilization from Swat to a foreign country via Lahore late on Tuesday night and arrested four people, said an official.

Talking to journalists at the customs collectorate here on Wednesday, deputy controller anti-smuggling Abdul Waheed Marwat said the staff at the Kund checkpoint in Nowshera district was put on alert after receiving a tip-off about the smuggling bid.

The customs staff stopped a Lahore-bound bus (Peshawar-C 9844) coming from Mingora, Swat, at 2am and upon checking found six statues of Buddha in the toll box, the deputy controller said.

The recovery of the statues from the toll box indicated the involvement of the bus crew in the attempt, he said. Those arrested included bus drivers Wahid Zaman and Hashtamand, cleaner Saeed Mohammad Khan, and conductor Fazle Hayat. He said the accused, during preliminary interrogation, had confessed the crime. The statues dates back to the Gandhara civilization, he said.