ISLAMABAD: The Customs officials on Wednesday foiled an attempt of smuggling four statues of Gandhara civilization period, ARY News reported.
Talking to journalists, Chief Collector Customs south Wasif Ali Memon said that they, on a tip-off, conducted raid at Port Qasim and recovered four ancient sculptures. He said that the statues were being smuggled to the United Kingdom in the name of ‘art work’.
The collector said that the officials of archaeology department, after examining the statues, confirmed that the sculptures were of the Gandhara era.
Read More: Two Buddha era statues recovered from Mardan’s graveyard
Earlier on June 5, historical Buddha era statues had been recovered from the Yousuf Kuli Graveyard in Mardan.
During an excavation activity for a burial, Buddha era statues were recovered by the undertakers which had been handed over to the concerned department.
The discovery was reported to the local police and the statues handed over to the department of Archaeology, Khyber Pakhtun Khwa (KPK).
