Man charged with dinosaur egg theft

The thief was captured on security camera. File photo / Bay of Plenty Times

Invercargill police have charged a man for stealing a fossilised dinosaur egg from Otago Museum last week.

The hadrosaur egg, between 145 million to 65 million years old, was noticed missing from the museum's ground-floor shop early last Tuesday.

Two days later, the egg was dropped off to Dunedin central police station in a supermarket shopping bag while the main counter was unattended.

The thief was captured on a surveillance camera at the museum, and on security cameras at the police station.

A 52-year-old Invercargill artist was arrested yesterday and charged with theft.

- NZPA