Egyptians reacted with outrage this week after officials said that a 3,000-year-old bracelet that had belonged to an ancient pharaoh was stolen from Cairo’s famed Egyptian Museum and then melted down for gold.
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Tourism and Antiquities Minister Sherif Fathy said in televised comments late on Saturday that the bracelet was stolen on September 9 while officials at the museum were preparing artefacts for an exhibition in Italy.
He blamed “laxity” in implementing procedures at the facility and said prosecutors were still investigating.
The bracelet, containing a lapis lazuli bead, belonged to Pharaoh Amenemope, who reigned about 3,000 years ago. Authorities said it was taken from a restoration lab at the museum and then funnelled through a chain of dealers before being melted down. The minister said the lab did not have security cameras.
Four suspects have been arrested and questioned, including a restoration specialist at the museum, the Interior Ministry said.
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According to the Interior Ministry, the restoration specialist who was arrested confessed to giving the bracelet to an acquaintance who owns a silver shop in Cairo’s Sayyeda Zainab district.
It was later sold to the owner of a gold workshop for the equivalent of about US$3,800. It was eventually sold for around US$4,000 to a worker at another gold workshop who melted the bracelet down to make other gold jewellery.