Egypt says missing pharaoh’s bracelet melted down for gold

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CAIRO (Reuters) -A 3,000-year-old gold bracelet that disappeared from an Egyptian museum earlier this month was stolen and melted down, the country’s Interior Ministry said on Thursday.

The Antiquities and Tourism Ministry had earlier reported the loss of the bracelet, which belonged to King Amenemope of the Third Intermediate Period, who ruled Egypt around 1,000 BC.

The piece, decorated with spherical lapis lazuli beads, vanished from a safe in a conservation laboratory on September 9.

Following the theft, a special committee was set up to review artefacts in the laboratory, and images of the missing bracelet were circulated to antiquities units at Egypt’s airports, seaports and land border crossings, fearing it would be smuggled abroad.

Yet, the Interior Ministry tracked down the theft to a museum restoration specialist who took the artefact and sold it to a silver trader, who passed it on to a workshop owner in Cairo’s historic jewellery district. The workshop owner then sold it to a gold smelter, who recast the metal with other items.

The ministry said suspects were arrested and proceeds from the sale, valued at about 194,000 Egyptian pounds ($4,000), were seized.

The incident comes weeks before the planned November opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum near the Giza Pyramids, a showcase of the country’s ancient heritage that is a key draw for tourism, a vital source of foreign currency for Egypt.

(Reporting by Mohamed Ezz; Editing by Sharon Singleton)