Spirited Away — page 4

Once in a great while, though, a big fish does get caught. For years, Indian police had suspected unassuming handicrafts trader Vaman Narayan Ghia of leading a massive antiques-smuggling network that robbed hundreds of temples and palaces of their finest treasures. But the graying 55-year-old had always been far too careful to allow any cracks in his operation, police say. Each member of his art-smuggling chain knew only the member directly above, making it nearly impossible to connect the thieves who were occasionally caught with stolen art to the mastermind at the top. But on June 6, after an intense yearlong operation involving scores of police, the Indian authorities believed they had proof linking two stolen statues to Ghia. Still, as police knocked on the door of Ghia's house in Jaipur to arrest him, they had no idea they were on the verge of dismantling the largest antiquities-smuggling ring in India's modern history.

Inside Ghia's home, the cops say they found hundreds of photographs of looted 9th to 11th century statues, a long list of private collectors' phone numbers and 68 auction-house catalogs that featured some of the same artifacts. Based on a detailed confession from Ghia, police claim he spent 30 years smuggling an estimated 50,000 idols, paintings and statues stolen from protected monuments around the country. On Sept. 2, charges were filed against Ghia and 21 alleged looters believed to be part of his smuggling ring. Police retrieved stolen goods from some of them, including a dismantled Mughal pavilion the size of a small house and a 3-m buddha statue that had been broken into three parts to ease transportation. Several of Ghia's foreign clients have been named in the police charge sheet and Indian police will seek authorization through the Foreign Ministry to question them. "We have enough evidence to prepare several cases against these people," says Superintendent Anand Shrivastava, who is heading the investigation.

In one case, according to police, Ghia confessed he sent the owners of a Manhattan gallery some photographs of a temple ceiling adorned with 16 statues. The gallery owners agreed on a price, police say, and he then arranged for the statues to be stolen and sent to the buyers in New York City. In his lengthy written confession, Ghia stated that other private collectors and dealers came to India and toured deserted temples to pick out precisely what they wanted stolen for them.

Other items that Ghia allegedly stole ended up on the block in Sotheby's and Christie's auction houses, say Indian authorities. Relics listed in Christie's catalogs that police say were taken by Ghia included an 81-cm sandstone frieze with an estimated value of $200,000 to $300,000 and an 85-cm statue of the Hindu god Shiva. A Jain statue that was reported stolen on Oct. 7, 1999, turned up as Lot 135 in a Sotheby's September 2000 catalog.

There's no indication the auction houses knew the items were stolen. Responding to TIME's questions about the Ghia case, Christie's London office issued this statement: "Christie's are in contact with authorities and are helping them with their inquiries. As the investigation is ongoing, we do not have any further information to release at this time." Diana Phillips, senior vice president at Sotheby's, says, "We have not knowingly sold any items consigned by Mr. Ghia or companies affiliated with him for the past several years." Sotheby's, says Phillips, does not offer for sale "any object that we know or suspect is stolen, smuggled or looted."

The very nature of antiquities makes the issue of ownership particularly murky. Many countries now have laws banning the export of ancient treasures, and an item taken recently from a temple or a grave or a palace is, by definition, stolen—but stolen from whom? Though much of European art sold by reputable dealers tends to have a detailed provenance—a record of where and when the item was procured and how it changed hands—antiquities from the developing world are often not held to the same standards. Only a tiny percentage of stolen art is ever reported. Indeed, hundreds of thousands of artifacts have yet to be documented by overburdened cultural-relics officials, so no paper trail exists.

Furthermore, in ancient civilizations such as India and China, some spoils of war and colonialism purloined a century or two ago by invaders have gradually come to be considered the legitimate property of whoever possesses them. Many international dealers and auction houses argue that Asia's turbulent history makes it simply impossible for them to track the chain of ownership. But He from Beijing-based Cultural Heritage Watch says dealers aren't trying hard enough. "Can you imagine a Renoir suddenly appearing on the international market without any history of where it came from?" He says. "It's outrageous that nobody gives Asian art the same scrutiny." An art dealer in Hong Kong is equally blunt about the benefits of willful ignorance. "Once these goods are taken from their original source, you can't prove they were stolen," he says. "It's like they never existed at all."

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