Australia jails museum thief

0 Comments | AFP, April, 2007

SYDNEY (AFP) — An Australian museum worker who stole thousands of exhibits, including a stuffed lion and a rare dolphin skeleton, was jailed for seven years Friday.

A Sydney court was told Henk van Leeuwen stole exhibits while working for the Australian Museum from 1996 to 2003 as a pest controller and skeleton moulder.

Anti-corruption officers raided the homes of van Leeuwen and two of his associates in 2003, finding more than 2,000 items from Australia's oldest natural history museum hidden in sheds, fridges and freezers.

They included a stuffed lion acquired by the museum in 1911, the skeletal remains of a Ganges River dolphin, leopard and jaguar skins, as well as numerous skulls, skeletons and animal specimens preserved in formaldahyde.

An...