Three European tourists were arrested in Sudan two weeks ago after collecting pieces of an asteroid. The Sudanese authorities say they are two French citizens and one Belgian.

The Europeans are accused of collecting the fragments in the desert in northern Sudan without permission. The asteroid, the size of a car, crashed to earth in October 2008.

Scientists say the occurrence was extremely rare as asteroids usually disintegrate high in the atmosphere. Experts from NASA and Khartoum University collected fragments of the object shortly after it had hit earth.

map showing Sudan from Wikipedia