Officials in Egypt are infuriated after a 3,000-year-old bracelet belonging to an ancient pharaoh was stolen from a museum earlier this month and melted down.
Egypt’s Interior Ministry shared the news last week. In televised comments Saturday, Tourism and Antiquities Minister Sherif Fathy said the artifact was stolen from a safe at a conservation lab at Cairo’s Egyptian Museum on September 9.
The gold piece, which contained spherical lapis lazuli beads, belonged to Pharaoh Amenemope, who ruled over Egypt around 1000 BC, per Reuters.
Workers discovered the bracelet was missing while performing routine inventory work on September 11 leading up to the an upcoming exhibit in Rome from October 24, 2025, to May 3, 2026, according to The London Times.
Authorities uncover a timeline of what happened
Fathy said prosecutors are still investigating the matter, but authorities have been able to produce a general sequence of events regarding the crime.
The Interior Ministry says a restoration specialist at the museum took the piece of jewelry and sold it to a silver trader. From there, the bracelet was transferred to the owner of a Cairo jewelry workshop, who then passed it on to a gold smelter.
The smelter then melted the “priceless” artifact down and recast it with other metals.
Four suspects have been arrested and confessed to the crimes, while roughly $4,000 resulting from the sale was seized by authorities.
Punishment could be stiff
According to Agence France-Presse, stealing an artifact in Egypt with intent to smuggle is punishable by life in prison and a fine of one to five million Egyptian pounds, equivalent to $20,000-$100,000 in American money.
Charges against the guilty parties have not been announced yet. A local judge reportedly ordered the restoration specialist and her acquaintance to remain in detention for 15 more days, the New York Post said.
Meanwhile, the judge said the two other suspects could be released if they posted bail set at 10,000 Egyptian pounds, which equates to a little over $200.
