Art crime investigators close in on stolen Thai antiquities

Intrigue surrounds struggle with Western museums over return of smuggled Prakhon Chai statues

According to its website, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York has a total of eight bronzes from Thailand’s so-called Prakhon Chai hoard in its collection, some of which rank “among the most important Southeast Asian bronzes of their age.” (Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art)

MAX CROSBIE-JONES, Contributing writer

August 10, 2023 08:00 JST

BANGKOK -- In the late summer of 1965, readers of The Illustrated London News were notified about a "startling discovery" on the border between Cambodia and Thailand.

Two Cambodian villagers scouring the overgrown ruins of a derelict temple had, the U.K. magazine reported, stumbled across "a set of superb Khmer statues dating from about the seventh century of a type which has hitherto been unknown."