Ancient Hindu-God Statues Stolen

Two ancient statues of the Hindu god Vishnu headed to a Paris exhibition were stolen from a Bangladesh airport.

Police fear a conspiracy may be behind the art heist — artists have objected to the government-to-government exhibit — and 11 people have been questioned in the theft of Vishnu and Bust of Vishnu, the Indo-Asian News Service said.

The terracotta statues, covered by $65,000 in insurance, date to the Gupta era of the seventh century. They were stolen while awaiting shipment to Paris from Zia International Airport in Kurmitola, Bangladesh. The empty box that had contained the statues was discovered around 8 p.m. Sunday next to a runway.

Those are masterpieces and very valuable to our cultural heritage and social history, Shamsuzzaman Khan, former director general of the National Museum, told the news service.

The French Embassy in Dhaka called the disappearance highly suspicious and said it could be the result of a conspiracy to embarrass France and Bangladesh, the news service said.