Tyrannosaurus skull sold for $230,000 in New York must go back to Mongolia

Mongolian law states that fossils such as the skull, which was brought to the US and put up for auction in 2007, must be surrendered to the government

A Tyrannosaurus bataar skull, which was unlawfully brought into the US and put up for auction in New York in 2007, will be returned to the Mongolian government, the US Department of Justice announced on Wednesday.

Preet Bharara, US attorney for the southern district of New York, along with homeland security and immigration officials, had filed a civil forfeiture complaint. The current owner of the fossil consented to returning the skull to Mongolia when informed that it had entered the US illegally.