National Bureau of Investigation agents arrested a man at the Manila Hotel parking lot as he dealt with a buyer of a “Uranium 235” isotope which he claimed was lost during the World War II by the US Air Force.

Atilano Mirasol, 48, of Barangay Balubal, Sariaya, Quezon, was entrapped in Port Area on Wednesday, while transacting with Elizabeth Hadley, 34, in a setup by the agency’s Field Operations Division.

FOD chief Roland Argabioso said sometime in December, Mirasol approached Hadley, showing a photograph of the U-235, purportedly recovered from a USAF plane crash in Cagayan de Oro.

He said the woman was led to believe that the material would fetch a billion dollars once she sold it to US government.

Uranium “enriched” into U-235 can be used as fuel for nuclear power plants and reactors to run ships and submarines. It was the fissionable material for the Little Boy nuclear device dropped by a B-29 bomber over Hiroshima, Japan on Aug. 6, 1945.

When Hadley asked for the U-235, Mirasol directed her to produce P600,000 to pay the security guards protecting the item.

She forked over the amount and got photographs and videos, which she forwarded to her husband abroad only to be told that she was being conned.

On Feb. 7, Mirasol called up Hadley and asked for P2 million for another item offered—gold bars, which he claimed was dug up in Rizal province.

Atilano instructed her to meet him at Manila Hotel’s parking lot, prompting her to seek NBI assistance. Joel E. Zurbano