Thailand wide open to treasure thieves
Play
According to reports in the international media, on November 19 the US charge d'affaires in Bangkok officially returned 554 artefacts that had been looted from Thailand and smuggled into the US over the past 60 years.
Most of the artefacts were looted from the ancient archaeological site of Ban Chiang in the Northeast and were seemingly smuggled out by Americans employed by the US government in Thailand, many of them posted to the embassy and consulates. Many artefacts were recovered from American museums, others from private collections.
These artefacts were almost certainly looted and smuggled out with the complicity of local Thais, as is often the case.
Recent press reports also mention that the US Attorney General’s Office, in the course of a seven-year investigation, has recovered some 7,000 artefacts in the US looted from 30 different countries.
The illicit antiquities trade is far more widespread than reports have so far indicated. Americans are not the only culprits. They might not even be the worst. There is much looting by the nationals of other countries. So one can imagine how much more has been looted from Thailand and smuggled abroad over the past 60 years.
Sawadi Chingkadiku
Bangkok
