Russia says thwarted smuggling of giant meteorite to UK

Russian investigators have prevented a giant meteorite fragment being smuggled to Britain disguised as a garden ornament, the Federal Customs Service reported Thursday. The huge specimen weighing more than 2.5 tonnes is believed to have come from the Aletai meteorite, one of the largest known iron meteorites on Earth, it said.

The fragment could be worth approximately 323 million rubles, the statement said. The statement did not say who attempted to import the fragment, only that it was destined for the United Kingdom.