US man returns artefact to Pakistan: report

An American citizen has returned a relic to Pakistan as part of a repatriation of 19 antiquities to four countries, the Guardian reported on Friday.

The report said that John Gomperts took the decision after reading news in the Guardian about the return of stolen antiquities and realised that the items he had inherited from his grandmother were worth up to £80,000 and could have been sourced from "illicit excavations" since they had no collecting history.

The report added that he wanted to do the "right thing legally and ethically" by returning the items to Pakistan, Italy, Greece and Cyprus respectively. He returned the items after his two siblings agreed to the move. The report said that one item belonged to Pakistan, two to Cyprus, four to Italy and 12 to Greece.

It did not describe the artefact that was returned.

"It seemed like the right thing to do … I read stories on repatriation and I thought: we have these pieces that are 2,500 years old from other countries; we should explore whether we can give them back," the Guardian quoted him as saying.

However, the report added that he had no idea regarding how to go about the repatriation process and thus approached Professor Christos Tsirogiannis.