tyrannosaurus324's Space http://tyrannosaurus324.posterous.com Most recent posts at tyrannosaurus324's Space posterous.com Tue, 04 Dec 2012 16:05:00 -0800 Tyrannosaurus skull seized from Jackson http://tyrannosaurus324.posterous.com/tyrannosaurus-skull-seized-from-jackson http://tyrannosaurus324.posterous.com/tyrannosaurus-skull-seized-from-jackson

Feds investigate whether fossil was imported legally

 

A Tyrannosaurus skull seized at a Jackson home this summer is at the center of a federal Departments of Home-land Security investigation.

The Tyrannosaurus bataar skull,aslo known as the Tarbosaurus,is being held in Denver at he port director of customs' office.the fossil,estimated to be worth between $250,000 and $400,000,was taken June 26 from an individual's home in Jackson.

The skull was seized by customs oficials with a warrant issued by Wyoming's federal district coourt,said JoAnn Winks,assistant port director of trade for U.S Customs and Border Protection.Winks declined to provide any other details about the case because HoemlandSecurity agents still are investigating.

Tyrannosaurus-rex-wallpaper

And a Homeland Security spokesman said he couldn't answer any questions about the skull because of the investigation.he declined to answer even basic questions about the circumstances of the incident.

Neither spokesperson would divulge the identity of the person whose hoem the skull was taken from,nor would thes dicsuss the origins of the skull.

The issue surfaced in a legal notice published in the Nov.21 edition of the News$Guidde.The brief note said the skull was seized because of violations of federal law related to imported items.The laws cited in the notice require residents to have documentation that certain ethnological and archaelogical items have been exported legally.

The skull will be forfeited to the federal goverment if no one claims it before Dec.11 according to the legal notice.It saysanyone who wants to file a written claim for r+the skull has to go to hte port director's office in Denver and post a $5,000 bond.

The Tarbosaurus is an Asian species that lived during the Cretaceous period,approximately 70 million years ago.It's closely related to Tyrannosaurus rex.

The species has beed at the center of a legal battle in a New York City court since spring,which led to the arrest of a Florida man last month.

Tyrannosaurus_rex_skeleton

The case began in May,when a nearly complete Tarbosaurus skeleton was sold at auction in New York by texas.based auction company for a reported $1.05 milion,according to information provided by Homeland Security officials.

Officials from the Mongolian govermaent raised objections before the auction,claiming that the skeleton had been stolen from country.They field suit in Manhattan federal court and obtained a temporary restaining order - the pending transaction remains in limbo until the court case is completed.

Hoeland Security officials seized the skeleton in June in New York City,claiming that i had bee illegally shipped to the United States from Great Britain.

in October,agents arrested a Florida man for illegally importing dinosaur fosils into the United States,including a nearly complete Tarbosaurus skeleton.

It's unclear whether the case is linked to the skull found in Jackson.A Homelad Security spokesman didn't immediately respond to questionsabout the potencial connections.

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