PARIS, Dec 8: France on Monday handed over a 70-million-year-old dinosaur skeleton to Mongolia, which was looted from the Gobi Desert and seized by French customs, as the Asian country seeks to recover lost relics.
The "extremely rare" fossil of a Tarbosaurus bataar, considered to be the Asian cousin of the fearsome Tyrannosaurus rex, was seized by French officials in 2015.
Public Accounts Minister Amelie de Montchalin handed it and other items including dinosaur eggs over to Undram Chinbat, Mongolia's culture and sports minister, at a ceremony in Paris.
"Today, a piece of the Gobi Desert is about to return to its homeland," de Montchalin said.
"This is the result of a very long and meticulous investigation. It is the restitution of a scientific and cultural treasure."
The dinosaur skeleton had been looted from the Gobi Desert before passing through South Korea and was confiscated by customs in central France in February 2015.
"For me and for all the Mongolian people it's very important to have our dinosaur fossils back," Chinbat said, thanking France for the handover.
Rare dinosaur skeleton sells for two million euros
The fossils will be displayed at a museum that Mongolia is planning to open in the near future, she said.
"Until then these fossils will be sent back and studied and restored," she told AFP.
- 'Exceptional discovery'
Sophie Hocquerelle, communications manager for French customs, told France 2 television at the weekend that officials finding an "entire" dinosaur skeleton was "an exceptional discovery".
She said that it was estimated at around 700,000 euros (more than $800,000 at today's rates) when it was seized.
"But since then the market has exploded, so we could say it is worth two to three times that amount today," added Hocquerelle.
Tarbosaurus bataar lived during the Cretaceous period and disappeared some 65 million years ago.
There have been no specimens of T.bataar reported outside of Asia.
Numerous ancient fossils have disappeared from Mongolia since American explorer Roy Chapman Andrews -- supposedly the inspiration for the movie character Indiana Jones -- discovered dinosaur eggs there a century ago.
Palaeontologists and smugglers alike have descended on the desert ever since.
The Mongolian government has sought to reclaim the lost relics, hoping to bring home fossils long held in foreign museums and the curiosity cabinets of private collectors.
Mongolia considers all fossils found in its Gobi desert, especially those from its Nemegt geological formation, to be government property and has banned their export.
Fossils must be authorised for export and without such a licence are usually returned to their country of origin.
In 2015, US actor Nicolas Cage agreed to turn over a dinosaur skull he purchased for $276,000, after it turned out to be smuggled from Mongolia.
The actor bought the Tarbosaurus bataar fossil at a New York auction in 2007.
In 2014, the Department of Homeland Security contacted the actor to inform him that a years-long investigation had led them to believe it had been illegally smuggled from Mongolia.
Cage is an avid collector and was reportedly in competition with Leonardo DiCaprio for purchase of the fossil.
Dinosaurs first appeared at least 230 million years ago, while the first humans are believed to have appeared on Earth only around six million years ago.
