Simon Wade
A HUGE shipment of stolen fossils was seized as it landed in the Port of Valencia.
In all, 4000 pieces described as having ‘great paleontological value’ had been shipped from the Argentine region of Río Negro.
The haul included five dinosaur eggs worth over 150,000 euros on the black market.
Two people have already been indicted over in Argentina as responsible for the illegal export of fossil remains.
Policia Nacional and the Spanish Tax Agency started investigations in January, after a tipoff from Argentine customs authorities.
Docking was attempted in February, but officials boarded and started a series of inspections, eventually cataloging the thousands of pieces of prehistoric Argentine history.
To evade customs officials, the smugglers hid the artefacts among stones and in the ship’s hull.
Nonetheless, a complete specimen of a dinosaur was also discovered.
The items are still in storage at the Port of Valencia, waiting to be returned to Argentine authorities.
