US to return 30 stolen ancient Cambodian antiques

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Washington will be returning 30 stolen antiques to Cambodia, including bronze and stone statues of Hindu and Buddhist deities which were carved over a thousand years ago, according to US officials. 

Cambodia, between the civil conflicts of the 1960s and the 1990s, suffered looting in its archaeological sites, including Koh Ker, the capital of the Khmer empire, which existed between the 9th and the 15th centuries.

Since then, Cambodia has been looking to retrieve and repatriate the stolen antiques sold on the international market.

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The top federal prosecutor in Manhattan, Damian Williams, said the items being returned were sold by Douglas Latchford to Western buyers. Latchford is notorious for issuing fake documents to conceal that the antiques were looted and smuggled. 

The antiques, Williams said, include a 10th-century sandstone statue depicting Skanda, the Hindu god of war, riding on a peacock, in addition to Ganesha, a sculpture that was voluntarily relinquished by US museums and private collectors after his office filed forfeiture claims. According to the US attorney's office, both antiques were stolen from Koh Ker. 

Williams, at a ceremony in Manhattan, explained: “These statues and artifacts… are of extraordinary cultural value to the Cambodian people.”

An acting special agent in homeland border security, Ricky J Patel, remarked that the sculptures were “extraordinary beauty and craftsmanship”.

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“These antiquities we return today were ripped from their country … many are sacred artifacts pried from temples and palaces to be smuggled across borders and peddled by those seeking profit, without any regard to the intangible value they have to the people of their homeland,” he said in a statement.

The National Museum of Cambodia in Phnom Penh will be hosting the antiques, according to Cambodia's US ambassador, Keo Chhea, speaking to Reuters.

“It’s like a returning of the souls of our culture back to our people,” Chhea added. “We’re very grateful.”

Acting special agent for homeland security investigations, Ricky Patel, remarked that the antiques had ‘extraordinary beauty and craftsmanship’.

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UK to return 72 looted artifacts to Nigeria

On Monday, a London museum announced its decision to return 72 treasured artifacts, including its collection of Benin bronzes, to Nigeria in what experts described as an “immensely significant” moment.

The Horniman Museum announced it would transfer the ownership of the historic objects to the Nigerian government after a final vote by its board of trustees.

Series of artifact repatriation

Named the Museum of the Year in July, the return of the stolen artifacts marks the first government-funded institution to hand back treasures looted by British forces from Benin City more than 200 years ago. 

About 10,000 objects looted during the raid on Benin are held in 165 museums and many private collections across the world. The British Museum in London holds 900 objects, considered the largest collection in the world. 

The objects include a brass cockerel altarpiece, ivory and brass ceremonial objects, brass bells, everyday items such as fans and baskets, and a key “to the king’s palace." Last year, the New York MET Museum returned three brass artifacts to Nigeria and in another series of artifact repatriation, stolen antiques were sent back to Italy after being trafficked in the US. 

Oxford and Cambridge Universities, holding hundreds of the artifacts in their own libraries, declared last week that they would return more than 200 between them.

Prof Dan Hicks, professor of contemporary archaeology at the University of Oxford, described the announcement as “immensely significant”.

He said: “It comes hot on the heels of the announcement from Oxford and Cambridge. They were the largest commitment we’d seen from the UK so far.