Source: Straits Times, Singapore
TOKYO, JAPAN, October 4, 2001: Japanese collectors were among the major purchasers of Buddhist images and fragments believed to have been stolen from the world-famous collections of Buddhist relics in Afghanistan and smuggled into Pakistan. Many Afghan refugees fleeing the country carry with them Buddhist figurines, parts of Buddhist reliefs or rock pieces they claim were from the remains of the two gigantic rock-hewn Buddhas in Bamiyan which were destroyed by the Taleban in March. The relics were smuggled into Pakistan by the Afghan refugees. Local police in Peshawar and elsewhere in Pakistan appear at a loss as to how to clamp down on the situation because of the large number of brokers of the smuggled artifacts. Small Buddha images were sold for more than US$420 each, and larger ones fetched more than US$500. Brokers said that those who purchased the smuggled Buddhist artifacts were mostly from Japan, Britain, the United States and Germany.