When a fireball from space crashed into the rocky plains of southeast Morocco in September, Mohamed Benitjit topped up the credit on his mobile phone and packed a bag with a tiny magnet and a few clothes, ready to set off in search of meteorite fragments.
"I just need to know where it landed,” the 52-year-old merchant said in Enzala, a village at the foothills of the Atlas mountains. "Information is everything in our trade. It doesn’t come easy since whoever finds something likes to keep it for himself.”
Like many other locals, Benitjit is seeking to cash in on the kingdom’s status as a booming hub for meteorite hunting.
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