The story of Josua Hutagalung, a meteorite discoverer from North Sumatra: ‘The amount paid was not 200 million IDR, there was no meteorite worth 25 billion IDR’

Jared Collins, an American citizen who allegedly negotiated the purchase of the meteorite between Josua Hutagalung and a third party, stated that the amount of funds received by the North Sumatran man was not 200 million IDR and that “there was no price for a meteor. worth 25 billion rupees. “

In an explanation written to BBC News Indonesia, Jared said he was “contacted by other meteorite enthusiasts who were in the United States, to help him find a meteor that fell in North Sumatra belonging to Josua Hutagalung.”

Jared “agreed to help his colleagues in the United States” and was later “tasked with verifying the authenticity of the meteorite found by Josua Hutagalung.”

Article “The value of the transaction was agreed by Joshua Hutagalung and Americans abroad through direct communication previously made by both parties, without their participation. [Jared]”.

Jared also said that he “received reimbursement for travel expenses and for the time spent helping this colleague. He does not own the meteorite nor does he sell it to others who own the meteorite at this time.”

“The ultimate goal of Jared Collins’ involvement as a meteorite enthusiast is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to personally witness and physically examine this scientifically important meteorite,” he added.

Josua previously admitted to selling the meteor to Jared and also admitted that he was surprised by the media coverage in Britain regarding the price of the meteor.

Josua, whom we contacted again on Thursday (11/19), has not responded.

The media in the UK call him the new rich with a price mentioned reaching 757 pounds (14.1 million rupees) per gram on an online trading site or if it weighs 1,800 grams it equals 26 billion rupees. The BBC could not verify the price quoted by the British media.

Joshua, 34, who works as a coffin maker, admitted that he sold the meteor stone for 200 million rupees. The money has also been distributed to families, orphans, churches, and repair of parents’ graves.

“The money has increased, only 200 million rupees,” Josua said, laughing bitterly at Dedi Hermawan, a journalist from North Sumatra who reported for BBC News Indonesia, on Wednesday (11/18) evening.

Josua revealed that the stone from the meteorite that struck his home had been sold to Jared Collins, an American living in Bali on August 17, 2020. Josua said that Jared initially said he wanted to buy the meteorite for research and collection purposes.

Josua admitted that he received 200 million rupees for the meteorite stone. As for repairing the roof of his house that was damaged by a meteorite, he received 14 million rupees. So in total he received 214 million rupees. However, Josua refused to provide proof of the payment he had received.

Josua admitted that he did not know if the stone bought by Jared Collins was valued at 26 billion rupees.

“If it’s true (the price is) 26 billion rupees, I feel cheated. I’m disappointed,” Josua said.

But Jared Collins – he said in his statement – “has the task of verifying the authenticity of the meteorite found by Josua Hutagalung, protecting the meteorite from possible damage and contamination that may occur due to improper handling of the meteorite, and transmitting it safely to his colleagues in America. “

Jared also said that “it can be determined that the numbers quoted are completely false and incorrect.”

“In terms of authenticity, the real value is the confidentiality of both parties, both Josua Hutagalung and the Americans living abroad, who took over the meteor, by mutual agreement.”

“But the amount paid / received was not 200 million rupees or an exaggerated price of 25 billion rupees reported worldwide. There is currently no meteorite of such value and of course no collector will pay that price,” added.

In a previous statement, Josua said that the weight of the meteor rock that fell on the roof of his house reached 2.2 kilograms, while what he claimed was sold to Jared was only 1,800 grams. The rest, according to Josua, has been distributed among relatives.

“I got five grams myself, the rest I shared with relatives. Some were made of stone rings,” he explained.

Joshua promised not to sell the rest of the meteorite that he owned, even though the price on the international market was quite expensive.

He said that the stone weighing five grams would be kept as a souvenir.

“Five grams is one piece, make it a memory.”

The director of the National Institute of Aeronautics and Space (Lapan), Thomas Djamaluddin, said that every day meteorites of various sizes meet the Earth and finally enter the Earth’s atmosphere.

However, Thomas advised the public not to worry, because meteorites do not contain radiation, just like other types of rocks on earth.

The incident began on Saturday August 1, 2020. At the time, Josua was working to make a coffin at his residence located in Setahi Nauli Village, Kolang District, Central Tapanuli Regency, North Sumatra.

Suddenly, Josua heard a loud roar from above. The roar was approaching his house. Not long after, a thud was heard from the roof of the house.

“I was surprised to hear the sound of the blow, then I verified that there was a large stone that fell on the roof of my house until it dripped,” said Josua, who at the time did not know that the stone was a meteorite.

Joshua stated that the fallen stone was buried to a depth of 15 centimeters.

He initially admitted that he was afraid to approach the place where the rock fell. However, as he was worried that something would happen, he dug into the ground to lift the stone that had hit the roof of his house.

“When I picked it up, it was still hot. That was when I thought the object I was lifting was a meteor falling from the sky, because it was impossible for someone to throw such a big stone on the roof of the house,” Josua said.

Happy with the discovery of the meteorite stone, he immediately uploaded a photo of his findings to his Facebook account. Suddenly, the upload received a response from netizens to go viral and was covered by many outlets.

Two days after the discovery of the meteorite stone, a local resident intends to buy the stone from Josua at a price of Rs 1 billion. However, Josua declined the offer because he felt that the person in question was not serious. “He made his offer, that’s why I refused,” he said.

Two weeks later an offer came in from Jared Collins, an American living in Bali.

Josua said that Jared came to his house to buy a meteorite after learning information from the media.

“Jared offered 200 million rupees for the meteor stone, I asked him not to. I was only willing to add 14 million rupees to the cost of repairing the roof of my house, which was damaged by a meteorite. On second thought, I am agree that instead of at home, the stone is often made. Play with children, “said the father of two.

But in his statement, Jared said that he met Josua after being contacted by his colleagues because “he had knowledge and interest in meteorites, and he agreed to help his American colleagues.”

It was then assigned to “verify the authenticity of the meteorite”

In the report, the newspaper Sun, mentions Jared Collins as an astronaut living in Bali.

After buying the meteorite from Josua, some outlets say Jared sent it to America. The stone was reportedly purchased by Jay Piatek, a man with a Ph.D. and a meteorite collector at the Arizona State University Center for Meteor Studies.

The meteorite is classified as CM 1/2 carbon chondrite, an extremely rare type.

The stone fragments were later resold by a second collector through eBay’s buy and sell site for £ 757 per gram, according to the British newspaper.

This article was updated on Thursday (11/19) to add that Josua refused to provide proof of payment that he had received from Jared Collins.

The article was updated again Thursday night (11/19) with additional information from Jared Collins.