Prosecutor's Office Accuses Seller Of Mammoths' Skeletons Of Smuggling

The Prosecutor's Office of the Novosibirsk region (West Siberia) accused Igor Grebnev, owner of a private museum of palaeontology in Novosibirsk, of smuggling. He is suspected of mass export of palaeontological specimens, the Novosibirsk customs said. According to the investigation data, during recent years the Novosibirsk palaeontologist had been excavating in Siberia and Far East and buying remains of ancient animals from local residents for a song. Then he exported the remains for sale to different countries, for instance to Germany, England, the USA, Japan, the Netherlands, Australia, etc. Not long before the summons to the Prosecutor's Office Grebnev intended to export to the USA a whole mammoth's skeleton and to sell it to a private collector. He took this skeleton to pieces in order to send it as a parcel by mail.