This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

A 12th-century statue of Buddha stolen from India nearly 60 years ago is to be returned to the country after it was discovered at a trade fair in the UK.

The bronze sculpture was one of 14 statues ransacked from the Archaeological Museum in Nalanda, eastern India, in 1961.

It is believed it changed hands several times over the years before eventually being sent to a London antiques dealer for sale.

The sculpture will be handed to the Indian high commissioner to the UK, YK Sinha, during a ceremony on Wednesday coinciding with India’s independence day celebrations.

The statue was identified at a trade fair in March by members of the Association for Research into Crimes Against Art (ARCA), an organisation working to preserve cultural heritage, and the India Pride Project, which aims to recover stolen artefacts.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The sculpture seen in full. Photograph: Metropolitan police/PA

Police said the current owner and dealer were unaware of the statue’s history and agreed for it to be returned to India.

DC Sophie Hayes, of the Metropolitan police’s art and antiques unit, said: “We are delighted to be able to facilitate the return of this important piece of cultural heritage to India.

“This case has been a true example of cooperation between law enforcement, the trade and scholars. Particular credit must go to the eagle-eyed informants who made us aware that the missing piece had been located after so many years.”

Michael Ellis, the UK minister for arts, heritage and tourism, said Britain was one of the first countries to recover one of the 14 elusive Buddha statues.

In 2017, Christos Tsirogiannis, a lecturer at ARCA, identified ancient Greek marble vases on sale at the Frieze Masters art fair in London – dating from the 4th century BC – as having once been in the possession of Gianfranco Becchina, who was convicted over the theft four decades ago of four rare murals from an early Christian rural church in Steni, Greece.

Numerous objects from the 80-year-old Sicilian’s former dealings are believed to still be in the ancient art market, and identification usually results in their surrender and repatriation.

