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5h ago

Egypt Arrests Four After Pharaoh’s 3,000-Year-Old Bracelet Is Melted Down

Officials cite an insider theft that ended in smelting, exposing vulnerabilities in museum security.

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Gold funerary mask of Amenemope, Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, Cairo
EGYPT - APRIL 22: Great mask of King Amenemope, gold, from Tanis. Goldsmith art, Egyptian civilisation, Third Intermediate Period, Dynasty XXI. Cairo, Egyptian Museum (Photo by DeAgostini/Getty Images)
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Overview

  • Egypt’s Interior Ministry says a restoration specialist stole the Amenemope bracelet from the Egyptian Museum’s conservation lab and passed it through traders to a smelter who recast the gold.
  • Four suspects have been arrested and authorities say about 194,000 Egyptian pounds (roughly $4,000) in sale proceeds were seized.
  • The artifact vanished from a lab safe in early September as it was being prepared for the ‘Treasures of the Pharaohs’ exhibition in Rome.
  • The Tourism and Antiquities Ministry circulated images to airports, seaports, and land borders and ordered a specialist committee to inventory the lab’s holdings.
  • Officials say the melting of the bracelet makes recovery effectively impossible and has intensified scrutiny of museum security ahead of the Grand Egyptian Museum’s planned opening.