More on Bihar museum thefts

More information on the thefts of Buddhist relics from a Bihar museum, which I've posted about previously. From ZeeNews:

A total of 18 Buddha statues and figurines of the 8th-9th century 'Pala Period' were on Tuesday found stolen from the Patna Museum, a treasure-trove of metal and stone sculptures of the Mauryan period.

However, the urn containing the relics of the Buddha are safe.

The heist came to light this morning when the museum staff opened the 'bronze gallery' housing 'Ashtdhatu' (alloy of eight metals) artefacts after it had closed on Sunday evening, Director of Museums of Bihar Sahdev Kumar said. [...]

Also from Tribune India:

In a daring late-night robbery on Monday in Patna Museum, located in the heart of the city, unidentified miscreants stole 18 statues of Buddhist and Jain eras worth crores of rupees.

The police said that the miscreants had broken the backside grill of the museum to steal these relics of immense historical importance.

[...]

The authorities of Patna Museum informed that the building was being guarded by four security personnel in the night which was much less than the required strength to man the precious exhibits within the museum.

The holy urn of Lord Buddha was also being kept inside the museum.

Sources in the police said the Chief Minister, Mr Nitish Kumar, already asked the higher-ups of the law enforcing authority to alert the administration in all the border districts with Nepal and Bangladesh in particular, as well as with West Bengal, UP and Jharkhand, to prevent any possible attempt to smuggle out these historical relics outside Bihar.

I can't fathom the mentality of buyers of stolen Buddhist relics. It's easy enough to understand the motive of the thieves — money. But presumably, one wouldn't buy a Buddhist relic unless one were, in some way, an admirer of the Buddha. And one who admires the Buddha should realize that the Buddha disapproves of theft.

南無阿彌陀佛