Pharaoh's 3,000-year-old gold bracelet missing from Egypt museum

An ancient gold bracelet belonging to an Egyptian pharaoh that had disappeared from a museum in Cairo was stolen and later melted down, the country's Interior Ministry said Thursday.

An ancient gold bracelet belonging to an Egyptian pharaoh that had disappeared from a museum in Cairo was stolen and later melted down, the country's Interior Ministry said Thursday.

The country’s Tourism and Antiquities Ministry revealed on Wednesday that the 3,000-year-old bracelet belonging to King Amenemope from the Third Intermediate Period went missing from the Egyptian Museum while being restored in a laboratory.

The Interior Ministry said an investigation revealed that one of the museum’s restoration specialists stole the bracelet on Sept. 9. The specialist then contacted a silver shop owner, who sold the bracelet to the owner of a gold workshop in Cairo's gold and jewlery district for 180,000 Egyptian pounds ($3,700).

The gold workshop owner, in turn, sold it to a worker at a gold foundry for 194,000 Egyptian pounds ($4,000), who melted it down and reshaped it into other jewelry.

The ministry said security forces have arrested the three suspects and the proceeeds from the sale have been seized.