A priceless 3,000 year old bracelet once belonging to Pharaoh Amenemope has been stolen from Cairo’s Egyptian Museum and tragically melted down.
Tourism and Antiquities Minister Sherif Fathy revealed the theft took place on September 9 while museum staff were preparing artifacts for an upcoming exhibition in Italy.
He criticized the lack of proper oversight and confirmed prosecutors are investigating, stressing that the incident exposes serious flaws in protecting Egypt’s priceless heritage collections.
The bracelet, which featured a lapis lazuli bead, disappeared from the museum’s restoration laboratory, a section that shockingly had no security cameras, officials admitted with embarrassment.
Investigators discovered that the relic passed through several dealers before being melted and turned into jewelry, marking a devastating end for an artifact that had endured for three thousand years.
