New York's Met museum returns Southeast Asian artifacts tied to looting

FILE PHOTO: People stand outside The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, New York, U.S., July 11, 2021. REUTERS/Jeenah Moon/File Photo

(Reuters) - The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City said on Friday that it would return 14 sculptures to Cambodia and two to Thailand that were associated with an art dealer who was charged with trafficking looted antiquities in 2019.

The return of the sculptures to their countries of origin would empty the Met's collection of art associated with Douglas Latchford, a dealer charged with smuggling looted artifacts from Southeast Asia, the museum said.