Antiquities stolen from India seized

 Federal investigators have seized more than $20 million worth of Asian antiquities from a Manhattan dealer who they suspect has been importing looted antiquities from India for several years.

The Manhattan district attorney’s office issued an arrest warrant for the dealer, Subhash Kapoor, on charges of possessing stolen property. Kapoor owns a gallery on the Upper East Side known as Art of the Past that advertises its role in providing antiquities to several of the world’s major museums.

He is currently in India where he is being held on similar charges related to theft of antiquities, according to a statement from the office of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which made the seizures. Among the items seized from a Manhattan storage unit was a bronze sculpture dating from the Chola Period, which ran from the late ninth century to the 13th century. Authorities valued the statue at nearly $2.5 million and said it was among several items that had been stolen from temples in India.