Police recover stolen Buddha statue

One of the Buddha statues stolen from the Patna museum (see this post) has been recovered. From BBC news:

Police in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh say they have recovered one of 18 priceless antique idols stolen from the Patna Museum in nearby Bihar state.

Police have arrested five suspects who were allegedly trying to sell the idol in the city of Benares.

One down, seventeen to go.

南無阿彌陀佛

Police task force to investigate smuggling of Buddhist relics

The theft of Buddhist relics from India is becoming quite a problem. From Reuters:

More than 3,600 Buddhist antiques have been smuggled out of the eastern Indian state of Bihar in the past one year, forcing police to set up a special force to tackle the menace, officials said on Tuesday.

"We are deeply concerned about the situation and stopping smugglers is a major challenge," Arun Chandra Verma, a top police official told Reuters from the state capital, Patna.

Rare and priceless Buddhist idols and other relics have also gone missing from the neighbouring states of Jharkhand and Orissa in the past year, police and archaeologists said.

Verma said a special force -- led by 25 specially trained officers -- has been set up to bust smuggling rackets in the region.

Buddhist relics are in great demand in Japan, China and Thailand where Buddhism is deeply rooted, as well as in Europe where a single idol can easily fetch tens of thousands of dollars.

What part of the second precept taught by the Buddha don't the buyers of these relics understand? If Buddhism were really deeply rooted in those countries, there wouldn't be a demand in them for stolen goods.

南無阿彌陀佛

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