A member of staff at The British Museum has been sacked after a number of items of gold jewellery some more than 3,000 years old vanished from a storeroom.
Scotland Yard are investigating with the landmark museum taking legal action against the suspect as they launch a “vigorous” search to retrieve the missing artefacts.
The matter is also under investigation by the Economic Crime Command of the Metropolitan Police.
A British Museum spokesperson said the majority of the missing items were small pieces kept in a storeroom belonging to one of the collections.
They include gold jewellery and gems of semiprecious stones and glass dating from the 15th century BC to the 19th century AD.
They stressed none had recently been on public display, and they were kept primarily for academic and research purposes.
Scotland Yard confirmed they were assisting the investigation but no arrests have been made so far.
George Osborne, Chair of the British Museum, said: “The Trustees of the British Museum were extremely concerned when we learnt earlier this year that items of the collection had been stolen.
“The Trustees have taken decisive action to deal with the situation, working with the team at the Museum. We called in the police, imposed emergency measures to increase security, set up an independent review into what happened and lessons to learn, and used all the disciplinary powers available to us to deal with the individual we believe to be responsible.
“Our priority is now threefold: first, to recover the stolen items; second, to find out what, if anything, could have been done to stop this; and third, to do whatever it takes, with investment in security and collection records, to make sure this doesn’t happen again.
“This incident only reinforces the case for the reimagination of the Museum we have embarked upon. It’s a sad day for all who love our British Museum, but we’re determined to right the wrongs and use the experience to build a stronger Museum.”
Hartwig Fischer, Director of the British Museum, called the incident “highly unusual”.
He added: “I know I speak for all colleagues when I say that we take the safeguarding of all the items in our care extremely seriously.
“The Museum apologises for what has happened, but we have now brought an end to this – and we are determined to put things right.
“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. This will allow us to throw our efforts into the recovery of objects.”
A Scotland Yard spokesman added the force has been “working alongside the British Museum”.
He said: “There is currently an ongoing investigation – there is no arrest and enquiries continue.”
