Egypt says stolen pharaoh's bracelet melted down, sold for $4,000

AFP | Cairo

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Egyptian police said yesterday they arrested a museum employee and three alleged accomplices after a priceless ancient gold bracelet was stolen from Cairo's Egyptian Museum, sold for about $4,000 and then melted down.

The 3,000-year-old bracelet, a gold band adorned with lapis lazuli beads, dated back to the reign of Amenemope, a pharaoh of Egypt's 21st Dynasty (1070-945 BC).

The priceless artefact had been kept under lock and key when it disappeared, a few weeks before it was meant to be exhibited in Italy.

Museum staff reported it missing from a metal safe in the museum's conservation lab on Saturday, a statement from Egypt's interior ministry said. Investigations showed a restoration specialist working at the museum stole the bracelet on September 9 while on duty.

A silver trader in central Cairo helped her facilitate the sale, the police said, first to a gold dealer for 180,000 Egyptian pounds ($3,735), who then sold it to a worker at a gold foundry for 194,000 pounds ($4,025).

The bracelet was then melted down along with other scrap gold, the ministry said.

The suspects were taken into custody and confessed to the crime, according to authorities.

Security camera footage released by Egyptian authorities shows a bracelet being exchanged for a wad of cash in a shop, before the buyer cuts it in two. However, the blurry images suggest the bracelet lacks the distinctive lapis lazuli bead seen in official photos shared a day earlier.

Egyptian media outlets had earlier reported the loss was discovered during an inventory check ahead of the “Treasures of the Pharaohs” exhibition scheduled in Rome next month. Under Egyptian law, stealing an antiquity with the intent to smuggle it is punishable by life imprisonment and a fine of 1 to 5 million Egyptian pounds (around $20,000- $100,000), while damaging or defacing antiquities carries up to seven years in prison and a fine of up to 1 million pounds.