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Indian court sentences US antiquities smuggler to 10 years in prison
Subhash Kapoor was convicted alongside 5 accomplices on prices together with prison conspiracy, housebreaking and the unlawful export of 19 artifacts value over 940 million rupees ($11.4 million), a police spokesperson confirmed to CNN.
The decision follows a years-long investigation into Kapoor, who stands accused of trafficking 1000’s of treasures plundered from temples, ruins and archaeological websites throughout Asia. The Indian American seller’s looting community is believed to have falsified historic artifacts’ authentication paperwork earlier than promoting them by way of his Manhattan gallery, Artwork of the Previous.
Following his arrest in Germany in 2011, Kapoor was despatched to face prices in India’s Tamil Nadu state, the place his trial commenced final yr. Though the seller has already spent 11 years in jail, he won’t stroll free following the sentencing, as he has additionally been indicted within the US on counts together with grand larceny, conspiracy, scheme to defraud and prison possession of stolen property.
As a part of an investigation dubbed “Operation Hidden Idol,” the Manhattan District Lawyer’s Antiquities Trafficking Unit — a taskforce of legal professionals, investigators and artwork specialists — has seized greater than 2,500 looted artifacts, value an estimated $143 million, which can be linked to Kapoor. Along with the 19 gadgets he has now been convicted of smuggling, the seller has additionally been accused of dealing with 1000’s of different gadgets from international locations together with Nepal, Cambodia, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
A picture offered by the Manhattan District Lawyer’s workplace exhibits an elaborately carved marble archway, courting to the twelfth or thirteenth centuries, that US investigators imagine Kapoor smuggled into the US from India. The arch was later donated by a personal collector to the Yale College Artwork Gallery. Credit score: Yale College Artwork Gallery
In an emailed assertion, a spokesperson for Manhattan District Lawyer Alvin Bragg advised CNN his workplace was in touch with the US Division of Justice and Indian authorities concerning the case. “In 2020 the workplace filed extradition paperwork for Kapoor and we intend to prosecute him in the USA pursuant to our ongoing investigation,” the spokesperson added.
Kapoor’s New York-based lawyer Georges Lederman confirmed that the seller will stay in custody in India because of the extradition request. Final yr, Lederman advised CNN that his consumer intends to contest the US prices on double jeopardy grounds, as “the underlying conduct he’s being charged for in New York is identical for which he has already served in India.”
High picture: Subhash Kapoor being escorted by police to a court docket in Tamil Nadu, India, in July 2015.