A 3,000-year-old gold bracelet belonging to King Amenemope was stolen from an Egyptian museum on September 9 and melted down, authorities confirmed.

The artifact, decorated with lapis lazuli beads, vanished from a conservation lab safe.

Investigators traced the theft to a museum restoration specialist who sold it through a series of traders, ultimately to a gold smelter.

Suspects were arrested, and the sale proceeds, valued at about 194,000 Egyptian pounds ($4,000), were seized, CNN has reported.

The theft occurred just weeks before the November opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum near the Giza Pyramids.