British Museum: How easy is it to steal from a museum?

News that artefacts were stolen from the British Museum has led to involvement successful what barriers beryllium to halt radical from taking immoderate of the world's top treasures.

Earlier this week, the depository sacked a subordinate of unit aft treasures were reported missing, and the Metropolitan Police opened an investigation.

The items that were stolen had been utilized for probe and had not precocious been connected display.

An creation betterment adept tells the BBC that, contempt security, depository thefts are common, and the onward travel of these stolen items tin scope from selling them successful the achromatic marketplace to melting antiquities down. Sometimes, they are sold for acold little than they were primitively worth.

Artefact thefts hap "every azygous time astir the world," according to Christopher Marinello, lawyer and laminitis of Art Recovery International. His organisation specialises successful locating and recovering stolen works of creation worldwide.

But Mr Marinello says it is "shocking" erstwhile ample institutions, specified arsenic the British Museum, are caught off-guard.

The British Museum has experienced thefts before. In 2002, it launched a information reappraisal aft a 2,500-year-old Greek statue was stolen by a subordinate of the public.

The thief took the 12cm-high (4.7in) marble caput and near with it undetected.

At the time, the depository said nary imperishable defender had been connected work successful the Greek Archaic Gallery - the portion of the depository from which the statue was stolen - contempt it being unfastened to the public.

The depository besides said it had reviewed its information for its collections, and invested significantly, aft a Cartier ringing worthy £750,000 went missing from its practice plus collection.

It had not been connected nationalist display. The ringing was reported missing to constabulary successful 2011, but details did not look publically until 2017.

While thefts from museums mightiness conjure images of items pinched from solid cases, a ample proportionality of depository treasures are really stored down closed doors.

The Natural History Museum, for example, has 80 cardinal objects successful its postulation - and scientists usage them to reply cardinal questions astir the past, contiguous and future. Only a "tiny fraction" of them are connected nationalist display, the depository says connected its website.

"A batch of the absorption goes onto information measures for public-facing displays" alternatively than stored collections, criminology prof Emmeline Taylor tells BBC News.

Museums and galleries successful the UK request to abide by definite information requirements to beryllium accredited by the Arts Council, the nationalist improvement bureau for creativity and culture.

The assembly says institutions should get information proposal for each the buildings and sites that the depository occupies - peculiarly arrangements for staff, volunteers and visitors, stored and displayed collections, buildings, and sites.

Alice Farren-Bradley manages the planetary Museum Security Network, which shares accusation connected security, communal threats and risks with its astir 1,500 members.

She says artefacts that are the astir fragile and improbable to spell connected show oregon connected indebtedness are kept successful "deep storage". Some are successful wide retention and others are successful survey collections, accessible upon petition by academics.

Ideally, each point should beryllium inventoried with a elaborate description, fig and photographs from aggregate angles, she says. But owed to their property and size, astir collections bash not person 100% of items catalogued.

Other protections see items being kept successful locked retention rooms, with physics sensors connected entrances to specified areas, CCTV, and systems that grounds unit movements via their swipe cards, which assistance them degrees of access.

But these systems lone enactment if determination are information teams monitoring them and picking up connected discrepancies, and if the information needed is inactive accessible, she says.

And, she points out: "If you don't person a implicit inventory, everything other - each the different information measures - they are lone going to get you truthful acold successful presumption of protecting the collection."

Ms Farren-Bradley warns determination could beryllium instances of insider theft that museums are not adjacent alert of, arsenic it tin beryllium months oregon years earlier they realise items are missing.

She has seen situations wherever an insider is not lone removing artefacts, but amending records truthful that if idiosyncratic checks the strategy it says the point is connected loan, oregon was ne'er portion of the collection.

And she is alert of 1 lawsuit wherever idiosyncratic was taking items retired of cases, and rearranging the show truthful it was not instantly evident thing was missing.

Asked astir different information measures museums trust on, she says immoderate person container checks, metallic detecting instrumentality and X-ray machines for unit and visitors.

Others person a whistleblowing strategy wherever unit astatine immoderate level tin emblem a concern.

"Museums request a argumentation oregon a strategy successful spot that tin perceive to people's concerns, due to the fact that astir of the clip quality behaviour is 1 of the champion detectors of immoderate benignant of problem," she says.

But this is lone portion of the representation - she says museums besides request the resources to analyse specified reports, with information "so closely" tied to funding.

The Art Loss Register, which describes itself arsenic the world's largest backstage database of lost, stolen and looted art, antiques and collectibles, presently lists astir 700,000 items.

The London-based organisation helps radical cheque the provenance of items earlier buying oregon handling them. It besides provides escaped assistance to instrumentality enforcement agencies and federation states.

Some 450,000 searches are carried retired each twelvemonth connected items up for sale, connected behalf of governments and instrumentality enforcement bodies, auction houses, creation fairs, dealers, banks and lenders, museums and galleries, pawnbrokers and backstage individuals.

Mr Marinello, from Art Recovery International, says his organisation is notified of thefts by galleries and museums erstwhile an inventory has been established - which lists missing objects.

Prof Taylor says erstwhile uncommon items are stolen, it becomes "a contention against time" for those trying to merchantability it on.

Sometimes, items worthy immense sums extremity up being sold connected for comparatively little. In 2005, for example, a Henry Moore sculpture worthy £3m was stolen and constabulary judge it was melted down and sold for less than £1,500.

Reputable auction houses volition not merchantability items that they cognize are stolen - they volition clasp them, Mr Marinello explains.

But immoderate auction houses, helium says, are funny successful earning commissions and "get frustrated erstwhile idiosyncratic reports thing arsenic stolen successful their merchantability room".

And past determination is the achromatic market. Those trading determination volition merchantability items "at a terrible discount to collectors and dealers", Mr Marinello says, "who bash nary owed diligence and truly don't care".

Prof Taylor, a City University London world specialising successful unit dishonesty, says erstwhile thieves get an point they volition "need to get them [stolen items] retired of the state arsenic rapidly arsenic possible".

They volition besides "need to person a purchaser lined up", she added, arsenic authorities worldwide volition person their eyes peeled connected the movements of these "hot" items.

Prof Taylor tells the BBC determination are 3 apt motivations down in-house thefts:

She adds: "Typically with unit dishonesty it starts precise tiny and escalates implicit time… each clip getting a small bolder, taking a small spot more."

But Ms Farren-Bradley says thefts of artefacts are not ever motivated by fiscal gain.

Some insiders volition instrumentality items "with nary volition of ever selling them, but due to the fact that they person go attached to the collections and they consciousness that they admit these items much than the instauration does".

Such items volition go keepsakes successful their homes - with the instauration tasked with their extortion perchance unaware for years that they are missing.