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She suggested the sculpture was probably not from Khajuraho, but from the area.

“There are many, many temples and temple ruins in this region from the late 10th to early 11th century,” she said.

Meanwhile, Burns became worried. What if the sculpture was real? She didn’t want to have anything to do with it anymore.

She said she asked for a refund through PayPal and got most of her money back.

Yet, to Burns’ surprise — and this is where things get weird — the statue ended up being delivered to her home one day.

“It was middle of winter. It was icy. I think it was some kind of UPS truck that brought it to the house. It was a fairly old gentleman,” she said.

“I said to him I should help him get it out because it was a lot heavier than it looked. It was stone, right? He said, no, not at all, he could manage it perfectly himself. Of course, the writing was on the wall. And he proceeded to drop it.”

They opened the package. Part of the statue’s hand had broken off.

“It was completely separated,” she said.

Burns said she told the driver to take it back to the airport.

Heritage officials insisted this week the statue never left the custody of the Canada Border Services Agency, nor did it undergo any repairs while in the government’s hands.

Burns thought that was the end of it. But in July 2014, she was served with a statement of claim from the Attorney General of Canada.

“I freaked out,” Burns said.

To explain what happened, it is necessary to backtrack to August 2011. That’s when Mueller wrote to the Indian High Commission in Ottawa, telling officials there the statue was in Edmonton.