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Illicit Trade, Ep. 04 - Meteorites

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In Chile, the search and sale of meteorites is completely unregulated and allowed. When the first specimen from Mars is discovered, it is taken to France in search of the highest bidder. For years, science has defended the value of studying these extraterrestrial rocks, but a silent market has brought hundreds of hunters to the best place in the world to find meteorites: the Atacama Desert.

Series Description

There are no millenary mummies in Switzerland, the vicuñas do not live in New Zealand, and the Alerce does not grow in the United States. How did Chile’s most valuable cultural goods get there? Illicit Trade investigates the incredible theft of fossils, mummies, shipwrecks, meteorites, exotic animals, and endangered trees that have crossed continents to end up in the hands of wealthy collectors, scientific laboratories, and prestigious museums.

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