The SEPRONA recovers a piece of the meteorite fallen in León in 1947 that was going to be sold on the Internet for 50,000 euros

Civil Guard agents, belonging to the Nature Protection Service (SEPRONA) of the Madrid Command, have delivered this morning to the Director of the National Museum of Natural Sciences (MNCN-CSIC), Rafael Zardoya, of a piece of the meteoriteof relief (León) that was in an unknown whereabouts and that was requisitioned days ago in the town of Hernani (Guipúzcoa).The recovery of the fragment (in the center of the photograph that accompanies this information and with a plaque) has been possible, because it was put on sale on a portal of Internet auctions.

The located piece is part of the meteorite that fell in the town of Reliegos (León) at eight o'clock in the morning of December 28, 1947.The car was cut into several pieces for study: some were sent to the MNCN and others to the natural history museums of Washington and New York.

The person responsible for the sale of the meteorite is Juan Carlos Manjares, an employee of a moving company in the Basque Country that is being investigated for a crime of improper appropriation.He explained that he was found in a storage room by Manuel Laborde Werlinden, scientist and founder of the Aranzadi Science Society who died in 1993.The space rock has a size of about 20 centimeters in diameter, is wedge -shaped and is just a piece of the airline that fell in 1947 in the town of León.It is already exposed in a museum room next to the other pieces of the meteorite of reliefs that were already in the enclosure.

The Reliece Meteorite is an ordinary condrita.The chondritas were created more than 4.500 million years and have not melted since then, hence their value to know aspects of the earlier solar system, the origin of life or the synthesis of organic compounds.

The investigation began at the request of the MNCN, when the conservative of the Geology collection, which houses several meteorites, discovered the announcement on the Internet, where the sale of the fragment was advertised, recognizing the labeling of the Museistic Center.Aurelio Nieto, responsible for the collection alerted the Seprona of the Command of the Civil Guard of Madrid, interposing the corresponding complaint.

The agents initiated the investigation tasks, identifying the author of the announcement, the employee of the moving company.Once in the Donostiarra town, they checked the fragment of the meteorite and the labeling of the same.Finally, they requisitioned the airline and proceeded to investigate the advertiser for a crime of improper appropriation.

The now investigated assured that he found it seven years ago in a box that was in a storage room in the name of the researcher Manuel Laborde Werlinden that he was emptied by default.

The employee of the Mudez firm told the Diario de León a few days ago that "most of the belongings in the storage room ended up in a landfill".He added that among Laborda Werlinden belongings a mineral box caught her attention and saved her from garbage.One of the stones was a meteorite that had a plaque of the Museum of Natural Sciences, where he had been exposed years ago.

Juan Carlos stayed with the meteorite and took it auction.net.Subsequently, he advertised this year again.The bid ended on October 27 and its departure price was 27.500 euros, although it is suspected that it could be sold for about 50.000 euros.

According to research sources, Laborde had authorization from the museum for the study of the meteorite that should be classified among all the pieces of the corresponding department.The Civil Guard has confirmed that Laborde had the piece in deposit for its study and that its trail was lost many years ago.He also added that the investigation continues to check if the account of the removable employee is true.What happened with the car from 1993 to today, "is still investigated," said the head of Seprona, Captain Marcos Santos.

General José Antonio Berrocal Anaya of the Civil Guard, who has delivered the meteorito, stressed that protecting and conserving the heritage of Spain is "one of the most rewarding work" of the body, while Zardoya has thanked "this good gift fromBirthday "on the 250th anniversary of the museum held this year.

As collected in 1947, the Proa newspaper, that innocent day morning.A few minutes later they could find out that the noise was as a result of a huge stone descended from the sky, which had fallen a few meters from the house of Ramira Santa María and that left a groove on the ground of 35 centimeters deep.No one dared to play that steaming and incandescent object that departed in several pieces and that was later guarded by the mayor, until he was delivered to the Air Force.It was a l5 -type condrito and its weight was about 18 kilograms.It was the last cataloged in Spain, and it was also the last fallen of the one that had news until the fall of another in the Palencia town of Villalbeto de la Peña in 2004.

The Royal Spanish Society of Natural Science published a study entitled Astrolito de Reliegos, where the report made at that time by the doctors of Mines José Aquilino Álvarez and Luis López López, who assured that the meteor weighted about 17.5 kilos andthat the greatest fragment was 8.9 kilos.

For the conservative Aurelio Nieto, this recovered meteorite is a unique piece, but "unfortunately, sometimes, these heritage objects are not very valued".

Javier García Guinea, a geologist and research professor at CSIC, explained that the Rocambolesque History of the Deequie de Rentiegos highlights the legal vacuum of the cars, which are out of the protection of Spanish laws."The 1985 Natural Heritage Law protects archaeological and paleontological objects in Spain" and establishes that the pieces found belong to the councils of the Autonomous Communities, but for this law "meteorites are stones of the field," he lamented to theEFE agency.

This lack of legislation generates huge problems to scientists who are forced to find and collect meteorites before professional search engines, or wait for the person to find them decide to donate them to the State.

For this scientist, the most efficient would be to write a specific norm that protects meteorites or including them in the 1985 heritage law because some of these "field stones" have a high scientific value, "that tell us what is in thecenter of the earth, how is the land mantle or give us information about the things that are out there "."At least, these jewels of the universe should be in a museum," he concludes.

In relation to this type of crimes of sale of objects on the Internet the Seprona remembers that it is necessary to distrust the offers too good and that it is advisable to avoid transparency operations that do not leave a trace and request money in advance.They reiterate that the best prevention is information.

In recent years, Internet sale has grown "exponentially", auctions can offer objects of scientific interest, weapons, protected animals or exploited heritage, among other things, therefore, "you always have to inform yourself before" and "For security and transparency, avoid operations that do not leave a trace or request money in advance, "Captain Marcos Santos has warned Efe.

The anecdotal of the matter is that now many fans know the importance of the meteorite of reliers (municipality of León located on the road to Santiago Francés) and numerous pilgrims ask about him, since there is no indication in the town towards the exact place where he fell.