In Egypt, an ancient golden bracelet belonging to the pharaoh was stolen and melted down.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs of the country reported this, according to NBC News. The law enforcement officers have already arrested three suspects, and the proceeds from the sale have been confiscated.
The bracelet dates back to the Third Intermediate Period and was to be part of the exhibition "Pharaohs' Treasures," which will open next month at the Rome Museum. The artifact disappeared from the restoration laboratory of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. The investigation established that one of the museum employees was involved in the theft. He sold the bracelet to a jewelry workshop owner for 180,000 Egyptian pounds (about 3,700 dollars). The latter resold the ornament for 194,000 pounds ($4,000) to the owner of a gold casting workshop, where the relic was melted down.
Pharaoh Amenemopet ruled Egypt from 993 to 984 BC and belonged to the 21st Dynasty. His tomb is one of the few fully intact royal burials known to archaeologists. It was discovered by French Egyptologists Pierre Montet and Georges Goyon in 1940, but excavations were postponed due to the outbreak of World War II.
