Police recover huge cache of illegal artifacts hoarded by American explorer
Nepal Police on Friday said it confiscated vast range of illegally possessed ancient idols, artifacts and woodcrafts of archaeological importance including skins and bones of endangered wildlife from the rented apartments of an American national and famous explorer Ian Baker in the capital city.
Police said that acting on a tip off, a speical police team from the Metropolitan Police Crime Division, Hanumandhoka had raided a house of Rajesh Maharjan at Baluwatar on May 17 and seized the goods of archeological importance.
The raid, which was carried out in the presence of officials from the Department of Archaeology and Department of Forest, unearthed 29 items, including idols, thankas and artifacts some of which dated back to prehistoric times.
Police also arrested Maharjan on charges of being an accomplice of Baker in collecting illegal artifacts and based on the information provided by him, raided another apartment at Naxal and recovered a huge cache of nearly 100 more ancient idols, thankas including skins and bones of tigers and other endangered wildlife species.
According to police, the idols and thankas were all stolen from temples. They also said that seized materials were one of the largest collections ever confiscated by the police in the country.
Interestingly Ian Baker, 41, who has been reportedly staying in the country since many years, is a world-renowned explorer, novelist and a contributor for the National Geographic and several other magazines. He has been absconding since his two apartments were raided and Nepal Police has listed him on its wanted list for illegally hoarding wildlife items and artifacts of archaeological significance. Maharjan has told police that Baker had gone to Thailand after storing those materials in the house. nepalnews.com ag May 24 08
