Indonesia
Archipelago
According to US authorities, the sculptures were looted from archaeological sites in Indonesia decades ago before being sold to Latchford who was based in Bangkok.
Two eighth-century Buddhist bronze statues depicting the four-armed Avalokiteshvara that were looted from Indonesia and trafficked to the United States by antiquity dealer Douglas Latchford. The US repatriated the sculptures to Indonesia in July 2026 after a US collector voluntarily surrendered 34 Cambodian and Southeast Asian items. (Courtesy of/U.S. Embassy Jakarta)
The United States has repatriated two eighth-century bronze statues looted from Indonesia after they were recovered as part of an investigation into the illicit trafficking network of infamous antiquity dealer Douglas Latchford.According to the Office of the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, the statues were trafficked into the US by Latchford, who was indicted in 2019 for allegedly orchestrating a decades-long scheme to traffic and sell looted Cambodian and other Southeast Asian antiquities on the international art market.
