CHENNAI: The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Tamil Nadu police on Thursday seized nine ancient panchaloha idols , worth Rs 77 crore, being smuggled to a foreign country. The EOW arrested a man who worked as an agent of the idol smuggling racket.

Based on a tipoff, the idol wing of the EOW conducted a vehicle check at West Mambalam here and resized nine idols -- including those of Perumal, Shivan and Parvathi -- from an autorickshaw.

The idols were being smuggled by Dhanalingam, 38, of Perambalur , who worked as a production manager in a few Tamil films. Dhanalingam was functioning as an agent in the idol smuggling racket, police said.

All the idols belonged to 10th, 11th and 13th centuries and were believed to have been smuggled from Thiruvannamalai. They were about to be exported to a foreign country, police added.

