Overview

• Egypt’s Interior Ministry says a museum restoration specialist stole the Amenemope-era bracelet on Sept. 9, sold it through intermediaries and had it melted down at a gold workshop.
• Four suspects have been arrested, authorities report confessions, and roughly 194,000 Egyptian pounds in proceeds were seized.
• The case has been referred to the public prosecution and investigators say the destruction of the documented royal artifact makes recovery impossible.
• The bracelet had been in the Egyptian Museum’s restoration lab as staff prepared pieces for the ‘Treasures of the Pharaohs’ exhibition in Rome, prompting an immediate alert to border antiquities units.
• A specialist committee is auditing all items in the lab, and the museum’s director cautioned that some images circulating online do not show the missing piece.