Federal law enforcers from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on April 5 handed back several dinosaur bones to the Mongolian government, all of which were smuggled out of the East Asian country and were seized by agents from Utah and New York.
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), with the help of its Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) team, recovered six species of dinosaur fossils as a result of investigations in New York and Wyoming.
Mongolia is a home to the world's biggest reserve of dinosaur fossils. Patrimony laws in Mongolia prohibit the export of dinosaur remains from the country, as well as private ownership of these objects. The Mongolian government had also identified the fossils as national property in 1924.
The largest fossil they obtained was the skull of an extremely rare dinosaur called Alioramus.
Bolortsetseg Minjin, a Mongolian paleontologist, said only two specimens of the Alioramus has been reported in scientific literature.
Both specimens are from Mongolia, Minjin said.
This rare dinosaur, which was a relative of the famous Tyrannosaruus Rex, was thought to have wandered the Gobi Desert during the Cretaceous period 66 million years ago.
The ICE described the Alioramus fossil as the most complete skull of the dinosaur ever found.
Aside from the Alioramus skull, other returned dinosaur bones included an almost whole skeleton of Protoceratops, Psittcosaurus, and Bactrosaurus; a nest of Protoceratops eggs; and the skull of a Psittcosaurus.
The ICE's Tuesday ceremony – attended by U.S. Attorney for Brooklyn Robert L. Capers, Mongolian ambassador to the U.S. Altangerel Bulgaa, and Customs NY Field Operations Director Robert Perez – is the latest in a series of fossil returns to Mongolia in previous years.
Capers said the U.S. stands with the Mongolian government by stopping the international trade in trafficked fossils and sending the items back to the country where they will be treasured and studied.
Meanwhile, Perez said the agency is glad to have sent back the fossils to the rightful owners.
Before the repatriation on April 5, 23 dino remains had been sent back to Mongolia from the U.S. in the last three years, Bulgaa said.
"I take this opportunity, on behalf of the Government and people of Mongolia, to express our profound gratitude for the hard work and dedication of American law enforcement agencies," said Bulgaa.
One of the recent returns included a Tarbosaurus bataar about 70 million years old, which was returned to Mongolia in 2013.
