Cambodia's stolen warriors

A special two-part investigation explores how a famous Cambodian temple statue ended up in a New York auction house.

101 East, Al Jazeera

Last updated: 17 Sep 2014

When he leafed through Sotheby's auction catalogue last year, archaeologist Simon Warrack could not believe what he saw. With a starting bid of $2m, a life-sized, 500-pound warrior statue dating back to the Cambodian Khmer dynasty was to be auctioned in New York. The catalogue boasted: 'If one could choose only one sculpture to symbolise the glory of Khmer art, this figure could fulfill such a challenge'. What the catalogue neglects to mention is that the spectacular statue watched over the temples of Koh Ker for more than 1,000 years, before Khmer Rouge looters cut him and his twin brother off their pedestals in the early 1970s. By selling scores of ancient artefacts like these to international art smuggling cartels, the communist group financed their bloody war in Cambodia, which claimed the lives of two million people. Archaeologist Simon Warrack is working on the restoration of the Koh Ker temples. He knows only too well where the two famous warriors once stood. He points at empty pedestals. Foot stumps are all that remain. "Sotheby's must be aware of the bloody history of these statues. If this deal isn't stopped, it's a carte blanche for art smugglers around the world," he says. Tess Davis, an American lawyer and smuggling expert, is trying to get the statue featured in the Sotheby's catalogue returned to Cambodia. "I think it is very important, that now that the war is over, now that Cambodia is recovering and coming back stronger than ever, that these pieces be reunited. It's not just about art. It's more important than that." So how did Cambodia's most famous temple statue end up in a Sotheby's auction catalogue?  In the first of a two-part special investigation, 101 East travels to Cambodia to see the destruction wrought by antique looters, and to the US to meet the officers tasked with investigating international antique smuggling networks.