article: Antiquities looted from ancient temples and Buddhist sites in India have been found on display at the Honolulu Museum of Art after a tourist spotted they were sourced from an art dealer facing charges in India. The museum yesterday handed over seven rare artifacts in its possession after authorities found, to the shock of museum officials, that they had been smuggled into the U.S. by former New York art dealer Subhash Kapoor. Agents from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement will take the items back to New York and, from there, eventually return them to the government of India. Marc Thomas, chief preparator at the Honolulu Museum of Art, holds one of seven stolen artifacts that were on display in the museum's collection . The artifacts are believed to have been smuggled into the U.S. by an art dealer facing charges in India . The items' origin was discovered after a tourist visiting the museum noticed the dealer, Subhash Kapoor, was listed as their source . Dealer Kapoor, was arrested in 2011 and is awaiting trial in India. Officials say he created false provenances for the antiquities. The discovery was made after a visitor last year recognized the name of Kapoor's New York gallery as the source of a 2,000-year-old terra cotta rattle and contacted authorities, said Stephan Jost, the museum's director. Museum officials then pored over their records and determined six other Indian items had ties to Kapoor. He said Kapoor donated one of the items and sold five to the museum, while one was a gift from someone else. Agents are hailing the Honolulu museum for being the first U.S. institution to publicly and easily cooperate with the investigation, dubbed 'Operation Hidden Idol,' involving four arrests and the recovery of thousands of pieces worth a total of $150 million. 'Owning stolen stuff is not part of our mission,' Mr Jost said. 'I'm not sure we've done anything heroic. We just want to do the right thing.' Mr Jost watched as agents inspected the items - the rattle, figurines, architectural fragments and tiles - and them hauled them in packed crates into a truck. The items were found to have been sourced from Subhash Kapoor (pictured), who is facing charges in India . Brenton Easter, a special agent for Homeland Security, inspects the artifacts in the basement of the Honolulu Museum of Art . This tile is believed to have been looted from a religious temple or ancient Buddhist site in India . They have now been packed up and sent to New York, from where they will be returned to India's government . Martinez stressed there was no culpability on the museum's part, as it wasn't aware of the items' provenance when it acquired them between 1991 and 2003. Mr Jost said American art museums are becoming more rigorous in vetting the history of objects they acquire. 'Could we have done a better job? Sure,' he said. 'Were we a victim? Yes.' Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent Brenton Easter said it was not uncommon for unsavory dealers to donate ill-gotten items for tax benefits and other reasons. Mr Easter is part of a group of agents in New York that focus on cultural property crime whose work includes dismantling the organizations behind the crimes and repatriating the seized pieces. Some institutions are reluctant to come forward, partly because of the financial loss involved, he said. It's very rare for evidence to come to light to show a museum has items that were illegally obtained, said James Cuno, president and CEO of the J. Paul Getty Trust. An item looted from India is wrapped up in packaging before being sent back to India . The stunning antiquities were sourced from art dealer Subhash Kapoor, who is facing charges in India . 'Claims might come from time to time. But most often those claims are based on just interest or the construction of national identity,' he said. 'If evidence is provided that's convincing, no museum will resist.' He cited an example from about 10 years ago when Italian police uncovered evidence revealing a number of items that were improperly removed from Italy. The U.S. museums where some of the items ended up returned them, he said. Repatriation has become more common in the past couple of decades, said Malcom Bell, a professor of Greek and Roman art and archaeology at the University of Virginia. As a general rule of thumb, museums and art collectors avoid purchasing items exported without clear and valid documentation before 1970 - the year of a United Nations cultural agreement targeting trafficking in antiquities, he said. 'Transparency is important, and if the Honolulu museum has been open, that's probably to be applauded,' Bell said. Kapoor sold six of the items to the museum and donated another, while the seventh was gifted by a second individual . Homeland Security officials remove the looted antiquities from storage at the Honolulu Museum of Art .
highlights: Seven artifacts were found to have come from an art dealer facing charges .
  Unbeknownst to museum officials, they were looted from Indian temples .
  The discredited source of the display items was noticed by visiting tourist .
  Immigration and customs agents will now return the artifacts to India .
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