A number of social media customers didn’t sympathize with London’s British Museum after it introduced a employee had been fired in reference to the theft, disappearance, or harm of treasures it was conserving.
In response to CNN, the museum in a press release on Wednesday mentioned the Financial Crime Command of the Metropolitan Police has since launched an investigation into the case – although an arrest is but to be made. The museum, which attracts greater than six million guests yearly, additionally mentioned the lacking objects embrace “gold, jewellery and gems of semi-precious stones and glass courting from the fifteenth century BC to the nineteenth century AD.”
The assertion added that many of the objects had been “small items saved in a storeroom.” The museum additionally mentioned the objects had not too long ago been displayed publicly and had been primarily saved for educational and analysis functions.
Apart from the police investigation, the museum mentioned it has “launched an impartial evaluation of safety” and might be taking authorized motion towards the worker it dismissed over the incident.
“We have now been working alongside the British Museum. There’s presently an ongoing investigation — there isn’t any arrest and enquiries proceed,” the Metropolitan Police instructed the information outlet. “We won’t be offering any additional info presently.”
The director of the British Museum, Hartwig Fischer, additionally mentioned the museum will “throw our efforts into the restoration of objects”, BBC reported. “It is a extremely uncommon incident. I do know I converse for all colleagues after I say that we take the safeguarding of all of the objects in our care extraordinarily significantly,” he added.
“We have now already tightened our safety preparations and we’re working alongside exterior specialists to finish a definitive account of what’s lacking, broken and stolen.”
However within the wake of the announcement, a number of customers on “X” (previously Twitter) appeared to poke enjoyable at what had occurred. In a 2019 article printed by The Guardian, British human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson mentioned the British Museum trustees “have develop into the world’s largest receivers of stolen property, and the nice majority of their loot just isn’t even on public show.”
The objects the museum has in its possession embrace artifacts that had been stolen from the Kingdom of Benin in modern-day Nigeria by British troopers in 1897. “Oh so now its an issue,” a person mentioned in response to the museum’s announcement. “Thieves can’t deal with being stolen from,” one other person commented.
A person additionally requested, “The place did the Museum get them?” One other person additionally requested why somebody was “dismissed for persevering with the museum’s legacy.”
“The British Museum dismissing an worker for stealing artifacts initially stolen by the British Museum is peak irony,” mentioned a person. “The British museum which is stuffed with objects which were stolen, sack an worker who’s then stealing stolen objects? The jokes write themselves,” a unique person wrote.
