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Disappearing museum artefacts - 11th September 2023
The British Museum is missing over 2,000 artefacts which have been stolen. With this incident, several members of staff have been fired and many people are questioning the museum's security systems.
The museum was constructed in 1753 and is home to 8 million artefacts. However, only 80 thousand are on display while the rest are in storage with limited access to staff and academic researchers.
No one knows who took the artefacts or how they did it. However, archeologist Dan Hicks blames the museum for the thefts as he revealed that not all the artefacts there were documented. He stated that not all entrances had security cameras and there was limited staff which would make it easy for the items to go missing and almost impossible to recover. It was a "disaster waiting to happen," said Hicks.
The artefacts went missing over the years without being detected by museum officials. In 2021, one antique dealer, Ittai Gradel, suspected something was wrong and warned the museum about the safety of its artefacts. However, he wasn't taken seriously until he sent an image of 70 stolen artefacts he'd identified on eBay.
This has prompted the British Museum to launch an investigation. However, this has damaged the museum's reputation. Some countries are requesting the return of their cultural artefacts as they fear they are at risk of being stolen.
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