The items were found by police in a picturesque coastal town in Madeira, a Portuguese island off the coast of Morocco that’s popular with tourists and best known for being the birthplace of soccer superstar Cristiano Ronaldo. The passport and wallet were found on Aug. 5, 2017, some three months before Mifsud disappeared from public view and six months after he was questioned by FBI officers investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election.

The bizarre discovery, reported here for the first time, is the latest crumb encountered on the trail of the elusive academic.

A police report reviewed by BuzzFeed News shows that Malta’s embassy in Lisbon was notified of the missing passport on Jan. 24 this year. But a senior Maltese official said that authorities back in Malta did not become aware that a passport belonging to Mifsud had been found in Portugal until late October.

It’s not known whether the items were dumped on purpose or simply mislaid.