AFP
A visitor takes photographs on his mobile of seized ancient statues at a museum in Karachi. PHOTO/AFP
CHARSADDA: When a family dispute over land degenerated into cold-blooded murder, Zaman Khan was quickly in over his head.
As cousins killed cousins, he borrowed more than 18,500 dollars to buy guns, ammunition and guards. But soon debtors were demanding repayment, leaving him so depressed he contemplated suicide.
Then a friend came up with an idea.
He took Khan to a site in northwest Pakistan which dates back to the ancient Gandhara civilisation where they dug up 18 pieces of statue, selling them to market traders for two million rupees.
After two more visits, Khan – AFP has changed the names of all those involved in the trade – had found enough statues, coins and ornaments to not only settle his debts but also bankroll his long-running feud.
Thirty years on, he presides over a lucrative trade in illegally excavated treasures, smuggled to Thailand, Europe and America as part of Pakistan’s sophisticated but underworld business in archaeological remains.
“I can fight against my enemies and my friends’ enemies now. I’ve earned millions of rupees from this business,” he said, sitting next to a dozen automatic weapons in Charsadda, 130 kilometres from Islamabad.
Pakistan is home to two ancient civilisations, the Indus, which dates back to between 2500 and 1700 BC, and the Gandhara, from 530 BC to 1021 AD. It is the Gandhara artefacts that are most highly prized.
Statues of the Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama, who was born in Nepal in the 6th century BC and whose teachings grew into a major religion, can fetch thousands of dollars across the world.
“Whenever I’m on a digging mission, I pay 10,000 rupees to the relevant police station as a bribe in advance and 1,000 rupees a day while the work continues,” said Khan.
He sells the artefacts to dealers in Peshawar.
“Then they sell them to dealers in Islamabad and other cities who then export them to Thailand,” he said.
“To smuggle it from Peshawar to Islamabad, they use ladies, who aren’t usually checked by police at the security posts.”
– ‘Each Buddha sells for $20,000’ –
Smuggler Raja Javed has customers in Peshawar, Thailand and Japan.
“I’ve been doing this business for the last 20 years. I have sold hundreds of art pieces worth millions of rupees,” he told AFP at his plush villa, just metres from the museum in the Gandharan city of Taxila.
Spread over almost an acre, the grounds of his home include lawns and guest houses, while the main residential building has the kind of huge dome usually found on tombs of Mughal kings and sufi saints.
“At a minimum I’ve sold 20 big Buddha statues (weighing 40 to 80 kilograms). Each piece sold for around 20,000 dollars,” said Javed.
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