Bhubaneswar: Special task force (STF) officials Wednesday claimed to have arrested a 46-year-old man here after recovering two antique idols estimated to be around Rs 2.5 crore in the international market.
Sayed Zilnoor alias Raja, a resident of Jadupur under the Khandagiri police limits here, has been taken into custody after he failed to come up with satisfactory accounts of the two astadhatu (octo-alloy) idols in his possession, an official of the STF said.
On the crackdown, the official said acting on specific inputs, a team led by Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) PR Satpathy, raided Zilnoor’s residence late Tuesday night and recovered two antique idols of 18.440 gram and 12.60 gram respectively. “There was no document with him in support of such possession. We suspect the accused, in association with a few others, used to smuggle stolen antiques,” the official pointed out, adding that the idols would fetch somewhere around Rs 2.5 crore in the international market.
A case (2/19) has been registered under Sections 379, 411 and 120B of the Indian Penal Code.
