More than 600 British Empire artefacts stolen from museum – Police

People walk past a large banner of depicting British Royal Navy personnel who were captured by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps in previous years, at Enghelab (Revolution) Square in the capital Tehran on November 12, 2025. (Photo by Yar / Middle East Images via AFP)

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More than 600 items from a collection documenting the links between Britain and countries in the former British Empire were stolen from a UK museum in September, police said on Thursday.

Avon and Somerset police have launched an appeal for information about four men captured on CCTV images on September 25 outside a building in the southwestern city of Bristol which housed items from the collection.

“More than 600 artefacts of various descriptions were taken by the offenders,” police said in a statement about the theft from the British Empire and Commonwealth Collection.

“The theft of many items which carry a significant cultural value is a significant loss for the city,” said the officer in the case, Dan Burgan.

“These items, many of which were donations, form part of a collection that provides insight into a multi-layered part of British history.”

Police said they wanted to talk to four unidentified men, all wearing caps or hoodies, seen in the CCTV images carrying bags in the early hours.

Police said the burglary happened between 1:00am and 2:00am on September 25 in the city’s Cumberland Road area.

According to the collection’s website, the “unique collection documents the links between Britain and countries in the British Empire from the late 19th century to recent times”.

It contains diverse objects, many of them from the Pacific islands and clothing from African nations.

There are also photographs, films, personal papers as well as sound recordings to provide “insights into diverse lives and landscapes during a challenging and controversial period of history,” the website adds.

The collection had been transferred from the former British Empire & Commonwealth Museum in Bristol when it closed in 2012.

It remained in the care of the city council, as well as Bristol Museums, which encompasses five different institutions, and the city’s archives.

The revelation comes after thieves stole crown jewels from the Louvre, in Paris, in October.

In August 2023 the British Museum in London revealed that some 1,800 items had been taken from its world-renowned collections by a former employee. A few hundred were later recovered.

The museum’s director, Hartwig Fischer, resigned in August 2023 after admitting the institution did not act “as it should have” on warnings that items had gone missing.

AFP

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