Pharaoh Amenemope’s lapis lazuli bead jewellery was taken from Cairo’s Egyptian Museum on September 9. (Picture: Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities via AP/ Anne-Christine POUJOULAT)

Isn’t this exactly how you get an ancient Egyptian curse? A 3,000-year-old Pharaoh’s bracelet has been stolen from a museum and melted down for gold.

Pharaoh Amenemope’s lapis lazuli bead jewellery was snatched from Cairo’s Egyptian Museum on September 9, before being sold for the equivalent of roughly £2,819.

A restoration specialist from the museum is said to have taken the artefact, which then passed through a chain of dealers before being melted down.

Four suspects have been arrested, including the restoration specialist, while prosecutors continue to investigate.

Pharaoh Amenemope’s lapis lazuli bead jewellery was taken from Cairo’s Egyptian Museum on September 9. (Picture: Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities via AP)

Monica Hanna, a prominent Egyptian archaeologist, called for ‘better control’ of artefact security, after it emerged there were no security cameras in the lab where it was stolen.

Tourism and Antiquities Minister Sherif Fathy said in televised comments late Saturday that the bracelet was taken while museum officials were preparing artefacts for an exhibit in Italy.

The restoration specialist has reportedly confessed to giving the bracelet to an acquaintance who owns a silver shop in Cairo’s Sayyeda Zainab district.

The Egyptian museum in Cairo (Picture: AP)

It was allegedly later sold to the owner of a gold workshop.

The bracelet was reportedly then sold again for around £3,000 to a worker at another gold workshop, who melted the bracelet down to make other gold jewellery.

The suspects confessed to their crimes and the money was seized, the ministry said in a statement.

The ministry also released security camera footage of a shop owner receiving a bracelet, weighing it, and paying one of the suspects.

Monica Hanna, a prominent Egyptian archaeologist, called for suspending overseas exhibits ‘until better control’ is implemented to secure the artefacts.

The Gilded Wooden Mask from the sarcophagus of Egyptian pharaoh Amenemope (Picture: Anne-Christine POUJOULAT / AFP)

Meanwhile, Malek Adly, an Egyptian human rights lawyer, called the theft ‘an alarm bell’ for the government and said better security is needed for antiquities in exhibition halls and those in storage.

Amenemope ruled Egypt from Tanis in the Nile Delta during Egypt’s 21st Dynasty.

The Tanis royal necropolis was discovered by the French archaeologist Pierre Montet in 1940, according to the Egyptian Museum.

The necropolis’ collection exhibits about 2,500 ancient artefacts, including golden funerary masks, silver coffins and golden jewels.

The collection was restored in 2021 in cooperation with the Louvre Museum in Paris.

The theft is reminiscent of past cultural losses, including the disappearance of Vincent van Gogh’s ‘Poppy Flowers’ — then valued at $50 million — from another Cairo museum in 2010.

The painting was first stolen in 1977 but was later recovered. However, since its theft in 2010 it has not been found.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

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