PESHAWAR, Feb 3: The federal government is yet to get back 81 sculptures of the Gandhara civilisation seized by the Scotland Yard police at Heathrow airport about two years back, sources said.

Officials said that these sculptures and artefacts were seized in January 2002, and are still in the custody of the British authorities. The sources said that the artefacts had been dispatched from Peshawar International airport and were concealed in rugs.

The British authorities informed Pakistan High Commission in London about the seizure. An official said that after physical examination the archaeologists confirmed that these sculptures were property of Gandhara civilisation and NWFP had been declared its place of origin.

"The consignment is still in the possession of the Scotland Yard police and the departments concerned have yet to take initiative to retrieve these precious objects," the official said.

Sources told Dawn that after identification of the sculptures the task was handed over to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to investigate the smuggling of these artefacts.