By NNN-PTI
Dhaka : Bangladesh Tuesday sought Interpol help to trace two 1,500-year-old statues of Lord Vishnu stolen from the airport here and cancelled plans to send other rare artefacts to France for an exhibition in view of “public sentiments”.
“A special meeting chaired by Chief Adviser of the interim government Fakhruddin Ahmed decided not to send a second artifact consignment to Paris in view of public sentiment,” an official statement said.
Officials said National Central Bureau (NCB) of the police has sent a message to the Interpol informing them of the heist and seeking help in finding the Gupta era statues and hunting down those responsible for the theft.
The statues were found missing from the Zia International Airport on Sunday minutes ahead of their shipment to Paris by a cargo plane, defying protests by archaeologists, historians, connoisseurs and civil society leaders.
Ahmed, who returned home last night after performing Hajj in Saudi Arabia, called the meeting as security officials said investigations were underway to find the two terracotta idols.
“We have not lost hope, but yet there is no development which I can tell you. Let’s see what happens,” Inspector General of Police Nur Mohammad told PTI.
Director general of elite anti-crime Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) Hassan Mahmud Khondkar echoed the police chief only saying “investigations are underway and we are assisting police”. That’s all I can tell you right this moment.
Tuesday’s high-level meeting also constituted another high powered committee headed by Cabinet Secretary Ali Imam Majumdar, the top bureaucrat, to “make a comprehensive report on the issue”.