U.S. returns 657 trafficked artefacts to India in $14 million restitution

30 APRIL 2026

U.S. authorities have announced the return of 657 antiquities, collectively valued at nearly $14 million, to India.
The pieces were recovered pursuant to several ongoing investigations into criminal trafficking networks, including those of alleged antiquities trafficker Subash Kapoor and convicted trafficker Nancy Wiener.
Among the pieces being returned is a red sandstone figure of Buddha standing with his right hand raised in abhaya mudra, a gesture of protection.
The statue worth $7.5 million, was looted from northern India, and smuggled into New York by Subash Kapoor and later seized by the Antiquities Trafficking Unit from one of his storage units.
Another returned artefact is a $2 million bronze figure of Avalokiteshvara, seated on an inscribed double-lotus base over a lion-flanked throne.
Another artefact includes a sandstone figure of a dancing Ganesha, which was looted from a temple in Madhya Pradesh in 2000.