British Museum employee sacked over alleged art theft

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Objects include pieces of gold and semi-precious stones, some of which date back to the 15th century before the Christian era. The British Museum announced that it had fired an employee on suspicion of theft of works of art Daniel Leal/AFP damaged”. The objects include pieces of gold and semi-precious stones, some of which date back to the 15th century before the Christian era, the London institution said in a statement. “This is a highly unusual incident,” said Hartwig Fischer, director of the museum, located in central London and known for housing the Rosetta Stone and parts of the Parthenon Frieze among its collections. “We take the protection of all items under our responsibility extremely seriously,” he added. “The museum apologizes for what happened, but we have now put an end to it and are determined to bring order,” he added. The institution said it would take legal action against the former employee and that the London Metropolitan Police’s economic crimes unit had opened an investigation. Most of the items involved in the theft were described as “small pieces stored in a repository belonging to one of the museum’s collections”. None has been exposed to the public recently, being conserved, above all, for academic and research purposes, added the director, without giving further details. Fischer said security measures had been tightened and outside experts had been called in to compile a “definitive list” of all lost, damaged or stolen parts.

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