Thailand ready to cede artifacts

Mon, 21 Jun 1999, 00:00 WIB | Source: REUTERS

PHNOM PENH (Reuters): Thailand is ready to return 117 ancient
stone carvings looted from a northwest Cambodian temple and
seized from art smugglers, but is looking for help with the
costs, a Thai official said on Sunday.

The Angkor-era sandstone carvings were hacked off an inner
wall of the 12th Banteay Chhmar temple, 350 km northwest of Phnom
Penh by Cambodian soldiers and sold across the border to a Thai
smuggler.

A Thai embassy official suggested that the United Nations'
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) might
help with the return of the artifacts.

The haul, one of the biggest of smuggled Cambodian carvings
ever found, was seized in the eastern Thai province of
Prachinburi in January. Cambodia has demanded their return.

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