In a report that we obtained yesterday, it is mentioned that “The British Museum dismissed an employee after it found that gold jewelry, gems and glass dating back as far as the 15th century B.C. were missing from a storeroom”. British Museum also released a statement saying that “The British Museum has been the victim of theft,” and added that “We are absolutely determined to use our review in order to get to the bottom of what happened.” The museum also informed the press that “it opened an independent review of security and would take legal action against the person, whom they accused of stealing and damaging the items”. British Museum’s former trustee Nigel Boardman said that it is a “painstaking job, involving internal and external experts” but an “absolute priority — however long it takes.”
British Museum Chair George Osborne said in a statement that “the trustees learned of the theft earlier this year and that they used “all the disciplinary powers” available on the person believed to be responsible. “It’s a sad day for all who love our British Museum,”” Metropolitan Police said in a statement that “We are bound by the police investigation and would not want to prejudice any potential action,”
However, it is worth noting that the British Museum has a lot of items that were stolen from other parts of the world during the British Colonial Era, including India, which have not been returned till date. Dan Hicks, an Oxford University Professor, wrote on Twitter/X that “‘We will throw our efforts into recovering the stolen goods that we previously stole’ may not be the flex that the national museum spin-doctors think it is,” basically telling everyone that recovering stolen items is not the greatest thing that the British Museum can do as it does not belong to them in the first place. Now, we already know that the Museum has identified the person who might be responsible for this theft so we will have to wait and see when the investigation concludes if he/she is really the culprit or not and if the items can be recovered.
