LOS ANGELES (AP) — Two stolen hand-carved religious artifacts, sandstone lintels dating back to the 9th and 10th centuries, were returned to the Thai government on Tuesday in a ceremony more than 50 years overdue.
The 1,500-pound (680-kilogram) antiquities had been stolen and exported from Thailand — a violation of Thai law — roughly a half-century ago, authorities said, and donated to the city of San Francisco. They had been exhibited at the San Francisco Asian Art Museum.
San Francisco, which owns the museum, agreed to hand over the ancient sandstone slabs, which had been structural parts of two religious sanctuaries in northeastern Thailand, following a three-year investigation by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and a civil lawsuit.
Records showed that the lintels had been obtained by a collector in galleries in London and…
