Jakarta - An Indonesian district court on Monday sentenced a museum curator to 18 months in prison for his role in stealing ancient Buddhist statues and selling them to a local businessman while using replicas to cover up the theft.

Central Java's Solo district court found Darmodipuro, alias Suhadi, or Mbah Hadi, guilty of violating the country's cultural preservation laws for stealing and trading six ancient Buddhist statues belonging to the Surakarta Museum.

Presiding judge Ganjar Susilo said in his ruling that Darmodiputro, 69, as the museum's curator, ought to be held responsible for taking care and protecting the museum's collection, and "not stealing and selling them," detik. com online news service reported.

Central Java police in November last year confiscated the six statues from the residence of a wealthy Indonesian businessman in South Jakarta and brought them back to the Surakarta museum.

The six statues were believed to have been among 11 Buddhist statues that went missing from the Surakarta museum in central Java, about 600 kilometres south-east of Jakarta.

Local craftsmen made copies of the statues which were then placed in the museum.

Along with Darmodipuro, two other museum staff members and a local antique dealer have also been on trail in connection with the stealing of the ancient Buddhist statues.

Thieves have long targeted Indonesian antiquities left over from the country's Hindu and Buddhist eras. The objects, mostly statues and temple reliefs, are in demand by wealthy locals as well as collectors on the international market.

It was unclear when the thefts took place, but the Surakarta museum reported on the missing statues, along with antique lamps, in early November 2007.

An Indonesian businessman, Hashim Djoyohadikusumo, told the court in testimony as a witness at previous hearings they he had bought the six ancient status, dated from the 4th century AD, with the help of an international mediator, who is also an antique collector, for about 100,000 dollars. (dpa)