Perpetrator fired - Gold, jewellery, and precious and semi-precious stones were among the disappeared' items - Some were stolen, some were damaged
The British Museum in London has fired a member of staff who allegedly stole valuable antiquities. Police are investigating after antiquities were reported "missing, stolen, or damaged".
Items such as gold, jewelry, and precious and semi-precious stones were among those found to be missing, stolen, or damaged, the complaint said, before targeting the museum employee as a "suspect" in the disappearances and destruction. Most of the items were kept in a warehouse.
British Museum director Hartwig Fisher said the museum "will make every effort to recover the items. This is an extremely unusual occurrence. I know I speak for all my colleagues when I say that we take the safeguarding of all antiquities in our care extremely seriously. The museum apologizes for what happened, but we have now put an end to it and are determined to put things right. We have already tightened our security arrangements and are working together with external experts to complete a definitive account of what is missing, damaged, and stolen. This will allow us to make efforts to recover the items."
The museum did not fail to emphasize that legal action would be taken against the employee in question among the dismissed staff. The Metropolitan Police's Financial Crime Squad is investigating. The British Museum has also launched an independent investigation into its safety.
In turn, the chairman of the British Museum, Mr. Osborne, said: “We were extremely concerned when we learned, earlier this year, that items from the collection had been stolen. Administrators took decisive action to address the situation in collaboration with the museum team. We called the police, put in place emergency measures to increase security, carried out an independent review of what happened and the lessons to be learned, and used all the disciplinary powers at our disposal to deal with the person we think is responsible. Our priority is now threefold: firstly, to recover the stolen objects; secondly, to find out what could have been done to prevent this; and thirdly, to do whatever is necessary by investing in the collection's security and records to ensure that this will not be repeated. This event gives impetus to the program to redesign the museum.
None of the historically significant objects housed in the museum from around the world dating back to the 15th century BC to the 19th century AD had been recently exhibited and were mainly kept for academic and research purposes, the museum said.
The fact certainly raises concerns about whether the security measures at the British Museum are really sufficient
