Lalitpur, August 22, 2016: Police have recovered 400-year old idols and ornaments stolen from a temple in Naudobahal, Lalitpur, and arrested three persons involved in the theft.
The Metropolitan Police Range, Lalitpur arrested Man Bahadur Magar, 53, of Imadol; Ganesh Bahadur Shrestha, 36, and Min Bahadur Khatri, 46, of Kavre along with the stolen ancient idols and ornaments. The idols were stolen from Buddha Temple in Naudobahal a month ago, police said.
Lalitpur Police Range on Sunday made public the recovered goods.
According to Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Pitamber Adhikari, chief of Laltipur police, Shrestha had drilled the outer wall of the Buddha Temple in Naudobahal and then broke the lock of the temple and made off with the idols.
“Interestingly, after we arrested a few people, the stealers brought back all the ornaments and idols and threw them nearby the temple,” said SSP Adhikari. “This is a kind of tactic that people in organised crime employ especially in antiquity trafficking. The mastermind of the theft will be arrested soon as we have identified him.”
The stolen goods included two ancient idols and silver and gold ornaments.
Police said they will hand over the goods to the temple authorities after completing the due court procedures.
While each of these ancient temples has their own internal security mechanisms including hiring locals to guard the idols, police have also heightened security in the area. Recently, Lalitpur police interacted with officials of 29 Bihars and additional security personnel have been deployed in the area.
