Libya has become a new Eldorado for meteorite traffickers, as the lucrative trade in celestial rocks continues to expand across the country’s vast deserts, according to a report published by the French newspaper Le Point.
Since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, the unregulated market for meteorites has flourished, attracting smugglers, collectors, and fortune seekers from across the world.
What began as chance discoveries by local shepherds has evolved into a global business. Abdul Hamid al-Fituri, a herder from Tocra in northeastern Libya, stumbled upon a strange, heavy, and unusually smooth stone while grazing his flock. “I learned it was a rare meteorite worth thousands of dollars,” he told The Continent. After negotiating through Facebook groups, he sold it for €2,800.
Such finds are increasingly common. Le Point notes that Libya’s geology makes it one of the richest sources of meteorites on Earth. In the limestone plateau of Dar al-Ghani, stretching nearly 200 kilometers across the desert, over 1,200 meteorites have been found. The region’s quartz surfaces and dry climate preserve the rocks in near-perfect condition.
The growing market is fueled by high prices and little oversight. Meteorites are now sold online for between $150 and $700 per kilogram, with rarer specimens fetching up to €10,000 for less than 200 grams. Without regulation, online brokers and smugglers exploit local finders, often purchasing valuable stones for a fraction of their worth before reselling them abroad.
Le Point highlighted how Libya’s porous southern borders, stretching 1,790 kilometers across Niger, Chad, and Sudan, make it nearly impossible for authorities to control smuggling routes. The collapse of central governance has turned the trade into a profitable underground industry.
Earlier this year, a 22-kilogram Martian meteorite sold for €4.6 million at an auction in New York, sparking an investigation in Niger into how it left Africa. Legal experts are now calling for stronger international controls to prevent the continued plundering of North Africa’s geological treasures.
