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Re: Arrests in Brazil
>Two Americans have been arrestd for allegedly
>stealing three meteorite fragments from Rio de Janeiro's National Museum,
>the curator said on Monday.
>
>Curator Maria Elizabeth Zucolotto said police arrested Frederick Marcelli,
>67, and Ronald Farrell, 43, on Friday at Rio de Janeiro airport after
>finding the meteor[ite] fragments inside a shoe in their luggage. The two
>were on their way to Sao Paulo to catch an airplane to New York.
I would bet one of these meteorites is Angra dos Reis, an angrite.
Angrites are one of the rarest meteorites in the world. The
"Catalogue of Meteorites" lists 101 grams of this meteorite resides
at this museum. I also wonder if a piece of Governador
Valadares, a Mars meteorite that fell in Brazil, also resides at this
museum?
>"The two men visited the museum saying they were dealers in meteorites but
>they made me suspicious because they are not known in the scientific world
>nor could I find them listed anywhere as dealers," Zucolotto said.
I don't recognize the first name, but second person, Ron Farrell,
is a meteorite dealer. His company is Bethany Sciences.
>"After
>they left I checked the meteorites and noticed the theft. They had changed
>them for similar looking ones."
That doesn't say much for the museum's security. I'm glad they got
their meteorites back.
Ron Baalke