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The British Museum in London has fired a member of its staff who allegedly stole valuable antiquities. Police are investigating after antiquities were reported “missing, stolen or damaged”.
Items such as gold, jewellery, 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”. 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 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 will be taken against the particular staff member who was fired. The Metropolitan Police’s Financial Crime Squad is investigating. The British Museum has also launched an independent investigation into the safety.
The fact certainly raises concerns about whether the security measures at the British Museum are really sufficient, which puts forward as an argument, among other things, precisely the security rules in order not to return the Parthenon Sculptures to Greece.
