Thieves may be stealing meteorites to order to feed a growing international trade, a BBC 5Live investigation has revealed. Collectors are willing to pay vast sums for rare fragments of rock from Mars or the moon and there is increasing concern that thieves are now stealing them at their behest. Meteorites, rock or metal fragments that have fallen to a planet’s surface from space, have long been valued by scientists. But now they are voraciously sought after by collectors and traders.