The United States (US) has returned more than 450 cultural artefacts to Pakistan, all of which had been illegally removed from the country and later recovered through coordination between US law enforcement agencies and Pakistani authorities.
The artefacts were returned during a ceremony held at the Islamabad Museum on Wednesday, and will now be preserved and displayed in Pakistan.
The Antiquities Trafficking Unit (ATU) of the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office recovered the antiquities following investigations into smuggling networks, including foreign-operated criminal organisations.
District Attorney Alvin Bragg announced the return.
Speaking at the ceremony, US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs S. Paul Kapur said that the artefacts represent chapters of Pakistan’s history, connecting generations to their heritage. “Among these artifacts are terracotta figurines that are more than four thousand years old.”
He added that each of these objects tells a story. “Each belongs to the people of Pakistan. And each now is home.”
Over the past decade, the ATU, with support from the US Department of Homeland Security, has recovered and repatriated 514 antiquities to Pakistan, worth nearly $23 million.
The items were seized through criminal investigations into international trafficking networks and the efforts have led to multiple convictions.
Among the returned items is a 2nd-century CE Buddhapada sculpture valued at $1.1 million, looted from Pakistan in the 1980s and trafficked to New York.
Other recovered pieces include a Gandharan frieze depicting Buddhist figures, Mehrgarh terracotta figurines dating to 3500–2600 BCE, a statue of the Bodhisattva Maitreya and a Gold Strato I coin from 105–85 BCE, recovered in 2023.
