Hundreds of artifacts and valuable antique collections have been stolen from the Southeast Sulawesi State Museum in the city of Kendari, Southeast Sulawesi. The museum staff discovered the incident on Tuesday, 26 January and one of the employees reported it through a Facebook post. 

The missing items consisted of metal works, such as kettles, keris, gongs, Japanese swords and traditional clothes. Some of them were procured between 1980 and 1990 by the Ministry of Education and Culture. The thief broke into the museum’s storage facility, which was only padlocked, without guards and surveillance cameras. The majority of items stored in the warehouse are original antiques-the ones displayed in the museum are usually duplicates. 

Head of Southeast Sulawesi Education and Culture Agency Asrun Lio said the agency, assisted by archeologists from Hasanuddin University, Makassar and South Sulawesi Cultural Heritage Conservation Centre, is still identifying the missing items by checking the museum’s records and the items’ registration numbers. 

The museum’s management has reported this incident to the Kendari Police and Baruga Police, which are now investigating the case.