In January, French customs officers in Menton, a border town near the Italian frontier, discovered nine dinosaur teeth fossils concealed in two parcels during a routine inspection of a Spanish express delivery van traveling on the A8 motorway.
The parcels were intended for private individuals residing near the Italian cities of Genoa and Milan, reported Süddeutsche Zeitung. The fossils were hidden in the truck, which was en route from Spain to Italy, and the driver was unable to provide the necessary permits for their transport, noted Bild.
"The driver was relieved because he did not know what he was transporting," said Samantha Verduron, the deputy regional customs director in Nice, according to Bild. She explained that the smuggling attempt was foiled during a standard check along the highway connecting France and Italy.
The discovery was deemed a special find by the French customs authorities. An expert report from the Prehistoric Museum in Menton confirmed that the seized items were petrified dinosaur teeth from the Cretaceous period, some measuring up to six centimeters, and likely originated from present-day Morocco.
Among the fossils were three teeth believed to have belonged to a mosasaurus, an extinct marine lizard with a long snout that gained fame through its appearance in the film Jurassic World. Additionally, there were five teeth from a dyrosaurus, an ancestor of modern crocodiles.
Also included was a tooth from a Zarafasaura oceanis, a long-necked marine reptile classified as a type of plesiosaurus. The species, first discovered in Morocco and dating back at least 66 million years, inhabited the seas of present-day North Africa over 60 million years ago.
The dinosaur teeth were likely smuggled from Morocco and may possibly be returned there.
This article was written in collaboration with generative AI company Alchemiq