The federal government announced Wednesday that it has seized NWA 16788, a meteorite known to be the single-largest fragment of Mars discovered on Earth.
U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro of the District of Columbia posted a video to social media showcasing the roughly 54-pound chunk of space rock. At that weight, it’s 70% larger than any Martian meteorite found on Earth, according to the Lunar and Planetary Institute.
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Point phone camera here
“A lot of people have had their hands on it, or more than your hands, but the truth is that we don’t know who owns it,” Pirro said. “So we own it now.”
Where’s it from?
Beyond the obvious answer being Mars, NWA 16788’s exact origin and travels have been disputed.
Meteorites are valuable, but some are much more valuable than others. According to Sotheby’s, more than 77,000 meteorites are officially recognized, but only 400 have Martian origins. This one weighs more than 6% of all known Martian rocks on Earth.
Official records list it as having been found in July 2023 by a meteor hunter in the Kefkaf region of Niger. Before being sold to an anonymous buyer for more than $5 million at a Sotheby’s auction in July 2025, it was verified and displayed in a couple of locations in Italy.
Beyond that, the details get murky. According to a PBS report, that made Nigerian officials worried that the interplanetary boulder could be the product of international smuggling. The country banned the international sale of precious stones shortly after the auction, the outlet reported.
Pirro didn’t mention who was in possession of the meteorite or where it was when the feds took possession of it.
Which begs the question: Why on Earth would, or could, the U.S. government seize the largest chunk of Martian rock on our planet?
Less MiB, more IRS
The issue is far less sexy than Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones getting involved. It’s about customs law.
In her video, Pirro said the meteorite entered the U.S. without being declared an item of monetary value. Under Title 19, Section 1595a, federal authorities can seize any asset of value smuggled into the country without first being declared to customs. Customs often seizes currency or other luxury items if the owner fails to declare them when entering the country.
“Customs has no record of it ever coming into the United States,” Pirro said, “so guess what, the United States government owns it now.”
Pirro’s office didn’t respond to a request for comment Wednesday afternoon.
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