many of the masterpieces that were taken out of cambodia, things that most cambodians will never dream of seeing in person. and it s been used as proof that these items were at least known to latchford and his circle. investigators are still unravelling latchford s connections to objects that were auctioned off decades ago. we have a special report on the worldwide trade of illicitly exported art treasures. back in 1988, the bbc was asking questions about objects on the auction block. wesley kerr reports. at sotheby s biggest ever sale of the highly prized art of south east asia, this four armed vishnu sold for £209,000. but were the statues originally stolen? the cameroonian royal family tried to stop the sale, cambodian royal family tried to stop the sale, but failed. now, brad is in london. the cambodian authorities
that s working to reclaim stolen statues. it s a mammoth task. they re tracing the histories of objects across hundreds of museums and private collections, from sydney to san francisco. leading the team is american lawyer brad gordon. we re tracking about 100 museums, and so we ve compiled, based on publicly available information, we ve compiled lots of information about cambodian pieces that are out there, so there s a couple of thousands pieces we are tracking. we know that these statues were taken out of the ground, and we know the cambodian government didn t give permission, so we re now asking the museums and private collectors, prove to us that you have a right to have these pieces. we re doing targeted excavations, so the excavations are coming up with remarkable finds, like arms and legs and pedestals, which, in some cases, using modern technology, we know that it s
this four armed vishnu sold for £209,000. but were the statues originally stolen? the cambodian royal family tried to stop the sale, but failed. now, brad is in london. the cambodian authorities are writing to major museums and the british government for help. i showed him the newsnight story from 1988. what was your gut reaction to it? amazing that the bbc had picked up on this in 88. we need to find this. this needs to come home. it s very important. so, we have the archival photographs from 1936, when the french inventoried it, and it was taken to the conservatory. the conservatory is a secret warehouse just outside angkor wat where statues are still stored for safekeeping today.
who s now sought safety in ukrainian controlled territory, has alleged there were already cases of cholera, dysentery, and other infectious diseases. now on bbc news our world. for decades, temples across cambodia were looted and their treasures stolen, smuggled, and sold abroad. but now the cambodian government wants them back. temples across cambodia have been looted, their ancient treasures torn away. wow, 0k. i ve got exclusive access to the sites they were stolen from, and speak to the temple raiders who did the looting. this one? for many cambodians, these cultures are much more than just stone objects.
just the stone for us. we never think this is only the statue, but the spirit of ancestor. sopheap meas is an archaeologist with the cambodian ministry of culture. when you saw the statue that s broken into pieces, how did you feel physically when you see something like that? ifeel pain, ifeel sad. ijust.sometimes ijust don t want to see it, too much to tolerate in the feeling, you know? i just don t want to see something like that. itjust comes.it hurts me a lot. sometimes i heard people talk how they destroyed the temple. ijust feel like, oh, my god, that is so painful to hear. this is very beautiful male statue. he have four arms. sopheap is trying to make things right again. she s part of a cambodian government investigative team