The impact crater caused when a meteor struck the high plains of Peru near Lake Titicaca is being guarded by as many as 20 police officers in a bid to stop meteor fragments from being stolen and taken outside the country.

The meteor, which struck in September, was first greeted with trepidation from local residents, after 30 people suffered nausea and headaches soon after the impact, but the world’s meteor-hunting community quickly flocked to the area, enticed by the prospect of procuring a fragment of rare and valuable extraterrestrial rock.

However, Peruvian authorities set up a secure cordon around the impact crater following reports that one US meteorite hunter, Michael Farmer, had removed fragments of the meteor and trafficked them outside the country, a claim that he denies. Andina, Peru’s official state news agency reported Farmer as saying that he had paid US$1,000 for 300 grams of meteorite, that the local mayor had sold another four-kilogram chunk and the local police had taken the majority of the valuable meteor pieces, telling local residents they were dangerous.

The nausea and headaches suffered by local residents were later attributed to the sudden release of arsenic fumes when the hot meteor struck an underground water supply containing naturally deposited traces of the poisonous element.

December 2007