The chairman of the museum’s trustees conceded the scandal has harmed the London institution’s reputation.
Some of the estimated 2,000 artefacts stolen from the British Museum have already been recovered, George Osborne has said.
An unnamed member of staff suspected of involvement has been sacked and the museum said it is taking legal action, while a police investigation is under way. The artefacts stolen were “small items of jewellery, gems, bits of gold that were not on public display”. The British Museum museum revealed earlier this month that items from its collection were found to be ‘missing, stolen or damaged’ and police are investigating
“We believe we’ve been the victim of thefts over a long period of time and, frankly, more could have been done to prevent them.”He said an independent review will look into “how come the museum missed some of the signals that could have been picked up”, not least when the museum was alerted by an antiquities dealer to items being sold on eBay in 2021.
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