Pakistan seizes artifacts worth $10 million

QUETTA, Pakistan (Reuters) -- Pakistani authorities have seized some $10 million worth of artifacts believed to be from the 12th and 16th centuries, a government official said on Monday.

Syed Mohammad Ashfaq, director of the government's archaeology department, told a news conference the artifacts included ancient Iranian ornaments, a 300-year-old dagger, 150-year-old statues from central Africa, and several other items.

He said some of the objects, found in the luggage of a Pakistani man at the Quetta airport, might be from the Iranian region between the 12th and 16th centuries.

Several Iranian ornaments also were found in unaccompanied baggage on a bus to Quetta, the capital of Pakistan's southwestern Baluchistan province.

The seizures come about one month after authorities in Baluchistan found a 2,500-year-old mummy of someone believed to have been a member of ancient Iran's aristocracy.

Iran has asked Pakistan to return the mummy, but the Afghan Taliban demanded last week that the mummy go to Kabul, since the smugglers confessed they had originally brought it from Afghanistan.

Once part of Iran, Baluchistan now borders Iran and Afghanistan.

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Cambodia battles to save its cultural heritage
August 6, 2000
Recovering the treasures of Afghanistan
April 2, 2000

The Government of Pakistan

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.