German academic stopped at airport with human skull

Rome, April 5 (IANS/AKI) Police at Rome's main airport detained a university professor with a human skull concealed in his luggage, which he said he wanted to take back to Germany "for scientific purposes".

The unnamed academic faces charges of illegal possession of human remains. He told Italian border police on Monday that he bought the skull for 50 euros at a bazaar in Rome's historic centre, Il Messaggero daily reported.

The skull was detected during scans of the academic's hand luggage at Fiumicino airport's Terminal 1 as he headed to catch a flight to Dusseldorf.

Police forensic police seized the skull, whose jawbone is missing, and were trying to identify it.