"Old News": Dinosaur fossil allegedly smuggled into U.S.

NEW YORK - Federal prosecutors say a 65-million-year-old dinosaur skull was smuggled into the U.S. by a French company that tried to pass off the fossil as a cheap replica.

Prosecutors say the skull of the Alioramus dinosaur arrived in New York in January with paperwork saying it was a cast worth about $3,400.

But U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials and Homeland Security investigators say the company later admitted it was a genuine fossil from Mongolia worth at least $250,000.

The dinosaur is a relative of the Tyrannosaurus rex.

Federal prosecutors say the skull must be forfeited. It will likely be returned to Mongolia, where national law prohibits the sale of such artifacts outside the country.

The company, Geofossiles, on Friday denied the fossil was smuggled.