PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA, January 19, 2015 (Turkish Press): Thailand is to return ancient Khmer artifacts looted from temples during the turmoil of the 1970s, Cambodian officials said Monday. According to the Cambodian Foreign Ministry, dozens of stolen relics were confiscated by Thai authorities in 1999 and Thailand has now agreed to return 16.
A report in the Phnom Penh Post on Monday said the artifacts to be returned were among a stash of several thousand Hindu and Buddhist statues and other antiquities held by a senior Thai police official.
Kuong said seven of 43 confiscated items were returned to Cambodia in 2009 and a joint commission has arranged the return of a further 16. “There are 20 remaining, and the ministries of culture from the two countries continue to work with each other on the rest,” he added. Looting was rife during the 1970s, when Cambodia was torn apart by civil war and the brutal regime of the Khmer Rouge.