Illegal items hoarded by American seized
POST REPORT
Acting on a special tip-off, a police team raided a house of Rajesh Maharjan at Baluwatar where police recovered a huge cache of such materials.
Police said they arrested house owner Maharjan, who told them that Baker also possessed illegal materials in another rented house at Naxal.
Following the information from Maharjan, who is said to be an aide of Baker, police sealed the house. With the help of experts from Department of Archaeology and Kathmandu District Forest office, it was revealed that those materials were archeologically important, some even dated back to prehistoric times.
On Thursday, police also seized dozens of artifacts, statues, skeletons, skins of wildlife, among other things. Senior Superintendent of Police Upendra Kant Aryal, chief of Metropolitan Police Crime Division, said the recovered materials were one of the largest collections ever confiscated by the police in the country.
However, police said they were yet to ascertain the intention behind collecting those materials. During interrogation, Maharjan told that Baker had gone to Thailand after storing those materials in the house. Police said Baker has been absconding since police raided his two apartments.
The country’s law has banned people from possessing, buying and selling archeologically important materials. On the other hand, the CITES (Convention on international trade in endangered species of wild flora and fauna), to which Nepal is a signatory, also terms buying and selling wildlife body parts illegal.
Posted on: 2008-05-23 18:11:27 (Server Time)
May 30, 2008 at 5:07 pm
The comment has been reposted due to the text codes alignment. The original posting and views by silver lotus remains unchanged.
Silver Lotus Says:
May 30, 2008 at 1:10 pm e
PRESS STATEMENT CONCERNING IAN BAKER
24. May, 2008
Ian Baker has been a resident of Nepal for 25 years. A graduate of Oxford University in England, Baker has written numerous books about Nepal, Tibet, and the Himalayas, and he has taught in American colleges and universities on the subject of Nepali culture, history, and tradition. He is also a well-known Buddhist scholar and has worked on projects together with H.H. The Dalai Lama. He writes regularly for National Geographic Magazine and he has made films with National Geographic and Discovery Channel.
Baker directed American educational programs in Kathmandu for several years as Academic Director of the School for International Training and continues to organize educational tours and treks in Nepal and Tibet. He has worked actively to promote architectural preservation and solar and other forms of green energy throughout the Himalayan world, and he has also worked actively to promote environmental and nature conservation in the Himalayas through organizations such as WWF, National Geographic, and the Wildlife Conservation Society. His research in some of the remotest parts of the Himalayas led National Geographic to profile him as one of seven “explorers for the millennium” and a New York magazine to feature him on their front page as a “real-life Indiana Jones”. Baker is a distinguished fellow of the Explorers Club in New York City and of the renowned Royal Geographical Society and Royal Society for Asian Affairs in London. Baker’s research has been profiled in numerous international media, including Newsweek Magazine, CNN, and Discovery Channel as well as in The Kathmandu Post and other local press.
Throughout his years in Kathmandu, Baker has lived in old, traditional Rana-style houses. These homes, like his present one, often came with artifacts such as carved Newari windows and other objects often found in antique shops on Durbar Marg, Boudha, and Thamel. The first apartment that Baker rented in Nepal in 1984 was part of an old Rana palace and even had old tiger and leopard skins on the floor. When Baker moved from his first home in Kathmandu to a larger apartment, his landlords told him to take the skins with him as they no longer wanted them. He kept them with him until his present home in Ghairidhara which is an old Rana building with glass chandeliers, stained glass windows, and old ornately carved windows built into the structure by his present landlord. Baker never imagined that the skins that he had been gifted by his former landlords would be a problem since so many other homes he had visited in Kathmandu were similarly decorated.
Baker was on his way back to Nepal after a lecture tour in the United States, when he received news from his housekeeper that her husband, employed by Baker as a gardener, had been taken into custody by the police after they came to his house late at night on
May 16th. The police had no warrant, but they apparently acted on a allegation that Baker had old artifacts at his home. Obviously Baker’s gardener is in no way responsible for what Baker keeps in his rented home, but that didn’t stop the police from taking Rajesh Maharjan into custody and, in Baker’s absence, illegally entering and searching Baker’s home and, several days later, confiscating things that Baker had collected on his extensive travels throughout the Himalayan world and his 25 years in Kathmandu. These included not only the leopard and tiger skins passed on to him by his previous landlords, but also old Tibetan boxes and tribal artifacts and other objects that Baker had openly purchased in shops on Durbar Marg and Thamel. The irony, Baker says, is that almost all of the other objects that the police confiscated can be bought freely at shops in Thamel, Boudha, and Durbar Marg. As Baker notes, if it is illegal for him to have these things in his house, then all curio shopkeepers on Durbar Marg and most Rana families in Kathmandu and Tibetan lamas and practitioners in Boudha would all have to be arrested! If shops on Durbar Marg can openly display and sell such objects to foreigners, it’s only logical that foreigners can also keep such items in their homes. Baker is a staunch advocate of wildlife and the Himalayan environment, prompted, in part, by his uncle who in 1977- the time of Baker’s first visit to Nepal- was both an ambassador-at-large and president of WWF. Baker has devoted the better part of his life to promoting Nepal and its culture through his books, films, magazine articles, and lecture tours. Baker admits that he was negligent not to register some of the things in his collection or that were given to him as presents by his landlords and Tibetan lamas, but he is amazed that the police acted outside the law and did not first notify him or ask how these things came into his possession. Baker contacted the US Embassy pleading that they intervene and help release his Nepali gardener from custody, but he was disappointed by the Embassy’s bureaucratic response and unwillingness to offer significant support. Baker was assuming that they would assign someone to address to case directly, rather than simply monitoring it from inside the Embassy walls. Baker is hoping that the US Ambassador may still take an active role to clear up these false allegations. Baker has yet to be told the exact nature of what he is being accused of, and he does not yet know from where these accusations originated. He only knows that he is not currently allowed to return to Nepal and that he would be put in custody if he did. He therefore urgently needs the support of all friends and defenders of justice in Nepal to resolve the improprieties in the way that the police conducted this case and to secure the release of his gardener. His gardener’s wife, his housekeeper of nearly twenty years, calls him several times a day in tears, and Baker is heartbroken that such innocent and dedicated people should be caused to suffer so unjustly. Baker sends out a plea to anyone who can help clear up this misunderstanding. Baker notes that, in other countries, the police’s procedures would be considered completely illegal, ranging from search and entry without a warrant to illegal custody.
Baker has never been involved in any kind of business associated with the things that the police took from his home and nor have his house staff. The items have simply been things that he has collected in the course of his many years of living in a country that he has loved and respected. Baker is hoping that his reputation in Nepal, his contributions to the country’s art and culture, and dedication to preserving the unique cultural heritage of the Himalayas will all help to ensure a timely resolution to his current plight and the release of his gardener. Baker remains shocked that the police did not first notify him that an allegation had been made, rather than subjecting him, without a court order, to an illegal search and entry. As the items in Baker’s home originated in Nepal- many of them from his own landlords- and have remained in Nepal without any intent to ever export or sell them, Baker was ignorant of having broken any laws. But clearly someone was eager to get him out of his present house of the past eleven years and, if they had their way, keep him out of Nepal for a long time to come. The mystery of who initiated these allegations remains to be uncovered. What is clear though is that, in Baker’s absence from Nepal, the police have imprisoned his gardener and have unjustly seized many of Baker’s personal possessions. If such items are illegal to buy in Nepal, then why are registered stores throughout the Kathmandu Valley allowed to sell them even today? Is it la form of entrapment to extract large sums of money from unsuspecting tourists as in the case of lawless cities such as Rio de Janeiro in Brazil? We all hope for better in Nepal, especially now as the country heads towards greater democracy and the Rule of Law. Baker has contacted the police directly by fax and telephone, but needs the support of all defenders of justice to help resolve this misguided case. Baker’s books can be found at bookstores throughout the Kathmandu Valley and he can be contacted for further information at ianbaker@mos.com.np.
May 30, 2008 at 5:12 pm
As stated above, there is a possibility of taking the case further under grounds of due process of law and procedural laws of Nepal which do not seem to have been duly followed. However, there might be possibility of a pre-existing warrant which may not have been disclosed to the media. In any case, a criminal case litigation generally starts in the custody allowing the government ample time to file the case upon investigation. If arrested upon his arrival in Nepal, Baker may opt for Quo-Warranto Writ jurisdiction. If th case is decided in his favor, he may even proceed towards defamation and compensation (very slim chances under bureaucratic regime and current governance).
The case is a “Wait and See” case.
June 5, 2008 at 4:11 pm
Yeah go to Nepal, be like Baker. If you are educated you will earn money like that. Sell hides in black market. No wonder he stayed there for 25 years. He must have over millions in his bank account by now.
June 13, 2008 at 12:58 pm
First of all Demogorgon you have to know all the facts before you can say something like that. He could have been sold those artifacts, how would he know if they weren’t stolen to begin with. Get your facts straight and don’t always believe the Nepali police.
June 13, 2008 at 1:03 pm
to quote someone else who I believe has a very good point:
“Having lived in Nepal for 14 years, I can tell you that the government is full of corruption, especially but not only the police, and that the media is not very good (they don’t investigate much, they are afraid of the government, and they certainly don’t concern themselves with getting all of the facts).
I know Ian and know about his residences, and I can tell you that what he says is the following statement is accurate and true. It is worth reading and worth remembering that he has been accused but not found guilty.
The Kathmandu Valley is loaded with old residences that are full of old animal skins, statues, etc. For over a hundred years the aristocracy and royalty acquired these items with no concern for the country’s wildlife and with no regard for its architectural and artistic integrity. This is a country where members of the royal family actually stole statues and other items and sold them illegally on the international art market. Where the police and customs officials routinely have accepted bribes to let art thieves pass through the airport freely. Recent Nepal governments of all political persuasions have routinely gone after foreigners, guilty or not, because they thought it would make them look good or because they thought the foreigners would pay them off to avoid harrassment.
In Nepal, few things are really as they appear to be on the surface….’nuf said.”
June 13, 2008 at 5:49 pm
I totally agree with Emily and the reality of Nepal. As a lawyer from Nepal, I can predict that there is a high change that he might get acquitted based on innocence and lack of ‘mens rea’ i.e. criminal intent. Nevertheless, there is ‘actus reus’ or ‘criminal act’ involved i.e. possession of banned items. Therefore, fine-penalty to some extent is highly likely.
Reality Check:
1. You cannot find a single house in Nepal without any banned substance, thats for sure. Possession of antelope skin is common, yak’s tail is a religious requirement, rhino’s horn is a Hindu religion requirement etc.
2. Recent Nagarjun Palace given to ex-king Gyanenrda reveals to have tonnes of such art crafts.
3. Yes, anyone can find these items in Durbarmarg, Thamel and Jhochhe.
4. Police and administration are definetely corrupt. There’s a saying about Tribhuwan International Airport “You can pass an elephant from here… unnoticed.”
5. Journalists are not as free an fair as they should be. Adequate investigation lacks and quality journalism is rare. Yellow journalism is rampant.
6. Maoists stronghold and their anti-American sentiment will last for ever. They will do ANYTHING to prove them good.
7. $$$ is the primary thing ! Show them the money…get things done….
June 15, 2008 at 10:35 pm
4
Having known and worked with Ian for years both in Nepal and the US,I can verify without any reservations whatsoever that all said above is spot on. Ian is one of the finest, most honest, and extraordinary scholars of our time who has been misaligned by a desperate act in Nepal. It is an astounding smear campaign most likely the result of an aberrant personal assault or possibly the new Maoist dysentary rampaging all that is historic and human about Nepal. Ian is just the sort of soul keeping the soul alive in Nepal. Let’s trust that the lies will quell, the government will indeed investigate the real culprits and justice will expose the truth. This is astonishing nonsense.
January 3, 2009 at 4:04 pm
Corruption, blackmail and smear campaigns are not so uncommon in many emerging countries such as Nepal. The source is generally the same in most cases………..fear, resentment and hate fueled by greed. It is without question that someone stands to gain from this ridiculous charade (the least of whom being Baker). Anyone who has even remotely associated with Ian Baker would know that he is a man with a great deal of integrity. He has nothing but the highest respect for the environment and immense compassion for those who live in it (both man and animals). To assert otherwise would be like trying to grasp the Tsangpo in the palm of your hands.
January 10, 2009 at 5:51 pm
To add a note: Ian has been a practicing Buddhist for at least as long as he’s lived in Nepal, and many of the precious objects in his possesion most certainly were gifts from Lamas, or given to him from monasteries in Tibet to protect from the Chinese. Just the books he has written documenting sacred wall paintings in the Dalai Lama’s meditation rooms and temples are recorded treasuries of things many people will never see. Since the Chinese are trying to divert the Yarlung-Tsangpo River so that it doesn’t feed the Indian continent, but joins the Yellow River for the benefit of China, it would behoove the public to read the rich detail in Ian’s book, The Heart of the World: A Journey to the Last Secret Place. Tibet is being divested of it’s minerals – most notably uranium – it’s ancient forests and the water that services all of Asia. It isn’t called the Roof of the World for nothing. Ian’s lifetime of service noting this cultural bounty benefits all of mankind.