Authorities across Egypt are searching for a 3,000-year-old bracelet reported missing from a leading museum in Cairo.

The rare gold band, adorned with spherical lapis lazuli beads, dates back to the reign of King Amenemope, a pharaoh of ancient Egypt’s 21st Dynasty who ruled from 993 to 984BC.

The antiquities ministry said it had taken immediate measures after the bracelet disappeared from the Egyptian Museum’s restoration laboratory, and that the case had been referred to the police.

An image of the bracelet has been circulated to all Egyptian airports, seaports, and land border crossings as a “precautionary step to prevent smuggling attempts”, the ministry added.

The ministry said it had deliberately delayed announcing the bracelet’s disappearance “to ensure an appropriate environment for the progress of investigations”, but it did not mention when the piece of jewellery was last seen.

BBC