Aussie tourists arrested in Cambodia for alleged theft

Two Australian men have been arrested in Siem Reap, the gateway to Cambodia's famed Angkor Wat temples, accused of stealing artifacts from the complex, local police say.

Tan Chay, Siem Reap provincial police chief for heritage, says the tourists were arrested on Friday at their hotel, where three pieces of stone allegedly stolen from the temples were found.

"We arrested them on Friday after hotel workers were suspicious of the stones and reported it to the police," he told AFP.

The suspects, whose names have not been released, have denied the accusation and say they bought the artifacts from a seller.

But Tan Chay says no vendor would sell those particular pieces of stone.

"These two picked two pieces from Bayon temple and another from Angkor Wat," he said.

The two tourists could face up to 10 years imprisonment if found guilty, he said.

The case was sent to the provincial court late on Friday.

Angkor Wat is Cambodia's most treasured landmark, and its biggest tourist draw.

The country relies heavily on tourist dollars to shore up its flagging economy, which has been left in tatters by decades of war that ended in 1998.

Many of Cambodia's archaeological sites have been decimated by looting, but Angkor Wat has been reasonably well protected after a crackdown on tomb raiders.

- AFP