An employee at the British Museum has been dismissed — and the Metropolitan Police has launched an investigation — after a number of items from the museum’s collection were found to be “missing, stolen or damaged,” the museum said in a statement Wednesday.
“The British Museum has launched an independent review of security after items from the collection were found to be missing, stolen or damaged. A member of staff has been dismissed, and the Museum will now be taking legal action against the individual,” the museum said. “The matter is also under investigation by the Economic Crime Command of the Metropolitan Police.”
The majority of the items were “small pieces kept in a storeroom” belonging to one of the museum’s collections. “They include gold jewelry and gems of semi-precious stones and glass dating from the 15th century BC to the 19th century AD,” the museum said, adding none of the items had recently been on public display, and were kept mostly for academic and research purposes.
Hartwig Fischer, the British Museum’s director, said the incident is “highly unusual.”
“The Museum apologizes for what has happened, but we have now brought an end to this — and we are determined to put things right,” Fischer said. “We have already tightened our security arrangements and we are working alongside outside experts to complete a definitive account of what is missing, damaged and stolen.”
