Smugglers sneak antiques through tech gaps

Replicas of stolen idols used to smuggle antiques: official

C Shivakumar

Chennai:

Antique smugglers use replicas of stolen idols to avoid detection and certifying authorities at Office of the Development Commissioner (Handicrafts) don’t have the proven technology to detect them, according to Office of the Development Commissioner (Handicrafts) Southern Regional Office deputy director P Mallikarjunaiah.

Mallikarjunaiah told Express on Monday that it is difficult to differentiate between a newly made artefact and an antiquity resembling it and certificates were issued based on trust and good faith.

“The network of smuggling antiques is meticulously planned and it is detected only at exit points whether it is fake or original,” says the official.

He says that even in one temple in south India, from where the idol was stolen, authorities fail to detect it. “Timely detection could have helped in taking necessary action,” he said.

“Now we are insisting on certificate from the Archaeological Survey of India that the handicraft is not historically valuable and can be taken out of the country,” he said.

Moorteeswari, deputy superintending archaeologist said that ASI has set up two committees to conduct the checks and provide certificates to the exporters.

Interestingly, artisans are feeling the heat as traders use their skills in avoiding detection. “The greed of the traders has affected the craftsmen. Once the police find out that it is a original one then we have to provide proof by making a replica of it,” says Radhakrishnan, an award winning artisan who has sculpted many replicas of antiques. “We don’t know how the artefact will be used. We only go by the orders,” Radhakrishnan says. Interestingly, the artisans have the skills to detect the original from the fake one.

To a query on whether stringent checks are necessary to curb smuggling of antiques, Mallikarjunaiah says, “If we start suspecting every consignment, then exporters will say we are harassing them.”