British art dealer Douglas Latchford was accused of running a vast smuggling network that sold Cambodia’s ancient treasures to wealthy collectors and major museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. A CNN investigation published Wednesday says the operation flourished for decades by exploiting the chaos of Cambodia’s civil war and the Khmer Rouge era, when looters stripped abandoned temples such as Angkor Wat and dragged statues toward the Thai border.
According to the report, the looters used shovels, chisels and even dynamite, sometimes cutting off limbs to move the pieces more easily. In Cambodia, the statues are regarded not as inert artworks but as living embodiments of gods, so their return is seen as both a cultural and spiritual correction after genocide and destruction.
Latchford denied wrongdoing for years. In 2010 he said most of the objects he handled had been found or dug up by farmers, and in 2013 he told The New York Times that although the pieces were smuggled out, the Khmer Rouge would otherwise have used them for target practice. Investigators later concluded he had laundered the works by donating some to top museums, which gave him credibility and pushed up the value of the rest of his stock.
The exposure grew after former Khmer Rouge foot soldier and looter Touk Tik came forward. He said he led hundreds of people, made only a few hundred dollars from objects later sold for millions, and wanted the gods returned home. Latchford also used forged documents and invented a fake collector, Ian Donaldson, to make the looted items appear legally owned before the 1970 UNESCO convention. Sotheby’s withdrew one statue in 2011 after it was proven looted from Koh Ker in 1972, and the scandal made Latchford’s name toxic across the market.
Latchford was charged shortly before his death in 2020 with fraud, smuggling and conspiracy, but never stood trial because of his health. More than 300 objects have already been returned to Cambodia’s National Museum in Phnom Penh, with thousands more believed to remain in private collections. Cambodia now plans to expand the national museum to receive the returning artifacts, and Culture Minister Phoeurng Sackona said, “Our culture and our statues are not just wood and clay. These are treasures with souls, and they have senses.”
