The museum director said the incident is 'highly unusual' and it is working to determine what has been stolen or damaged.
The British Museum has dismissed a staff member after items from its collection, including gold jewellery and gems, had been found to be missing, stolen or damaged.The museum is suing the individual and will launch a ''vigorous program to recover the missing items"The museum is working to recover the objects and reviewing its security
The museum, one of the most visited in the world, said it was taking legal action against the individual and had also launched a review of security and a ''vigorous program to recover the missing items".It said the majority of the items involved were small pieces kept in a storeroom and included gold jewellery, gems and semi-precious stones and glass dating from the 15th century BC to the 19th century AD.
None of the items had recently been on public display and were kept primarily for academic and research purposes, it added. "This is a highly unusual incident. I know I speak for all colleagues when I say that we take the safeguarding of all the items in our care extremely seriously," director of the British Museum Hartwig 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.
"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," he said.
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