{"id":2762258,"date":"2026-02-06T16:38:44","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T16:38:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/news\/2762258\/"},"modified":"2026-02-06T16:38:44","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T16:38:44","slug":"russia-says-thwarted-smuggling-of-giant-meteorite-to-uk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/news\/2762258\/","title":{"rendered":"Russia says thwarted smuggling of giant meteorite to UK"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>          <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/AFP048468_00.pre.jpg\"\/><br \/>\n\t\t\t      Russian investigators have prevented a giant meteorite fragment being smuggled to Britain disguised as a garden ornament, the Federal Customs Service reported Thursday.<br \/>  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.<br \/>  Prosecutors have opened a criminal investigation.<br \/>  The strategically important cargo was discovered during checks on a sea container at the port of Saint Petersburg, the customs service said in a statement.<br \/>  When attempting to export it, it was declared as a garden sculpture. But a detailed inspection revealed that the origin and value of the cargo differed from the information declared, it added.<br \/>  Video showed customs officers prying open a crate to find the rock, its surface grey and rugged.<br \/>  The fragment could be worth approximately 323 million rubles ($4.2 million), the statement said.<br \/>  The statement did not say who attempted to import the fragment, only that it was destined for the United Kingdom.<br \/>  Scientists have expressed ethical concerns about the sale of meteorites, which are often coveted for research purposes and hold important clues about the make-up of the early solar system.<br \/>  The Aletai meteorite was discovered in western China in 1898 and is thought to be at least 4.5 billion years old.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Russian investigators have prevented a giant meteorite fragment being smuggled to Britain disguised as a garde<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2762259,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[784998],"tags":[98706,30356,528524,32077,939,1670,98751,73191,11802,200,125020,78392,6798,17757,812,7062,4817,3687,4313,31168,1712,345531,6330,784979,2722,11034,784980,1668,3843,13633,11786,3577,16899,21135,302851,482,14115,577,1669],"class_list":{"0":"post-2762258","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-russia","8":"tag-jiji","9":"tag-russia","10":"tag-topics","11":"tag-topix","12":"tag-939","13":"tag-1670","14":"tag-98751","15":"tag-73191","16":"tag-11802","17":"tag-200","18":"tag-125020","19":"tag-78392","20":"tag-6798","21":"tag-17757","22":"tag-812","23":"tag-7062","24":"tag-4817","25":"tag-3687","26":"tag-4313","27":"tag-31168","28":"tag-1712","29":"tag-345531","30":"tag-6330","31":"tag-784979","32":"tag-2722","33":"tag-11034","34":"tag-784980","35":"tag-1668","36":"tag-3843","37":"tag-13633","38":"tag-11786","39":"tag-3577","40":"tag-16899","41":"tag-21135","42":"tag-302851","43":"tag-482","44":"tag-14115","45":"tag-577","46":"tag-1669"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/wakoka.com\/@news\/116024672637492474","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2762258","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2762258"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2762258\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2762259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2762258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2762258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2762258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}