Four held as pharaoh's 3000-year-old bracelet stolen

Four people have been arrested over the robbery of a 3000-year-old Egyptian bracelet from a Cairo museum, the Ministry of Interior says.

The gold bracelet was stolen by a restoration specialist and was sold twice, before it was melted down with other gold jewellery, the ministry said.

On Tuesday, authorities announced that a bracelet had disappeared from the restoration laboratory at the Egyptian Museum in central Cairo.

The gold bracelet is adorned with a spherical lapis lazuli bead which belonged to the pharaoh King Amenemope, believed to have ruled ancient Egypt about 990 BC.

Museum officials reported the disappearance of the bracelet from an iron safe at the museum's restoration lab on September 13, the Interior Ministry said.

Investigations revealed that a restoration specialist