Three persons spinning a yarn straight out of a spy movie to sell red mercury, a hoax nuclear material, were trapped and arrested by police on Thursday.

They were looking for prospective buyers for what they called a consignment of red mercury. They claimed the “nuclear material” was obtained from the erstwhile Soviet Union and procured by LTTE before it was brought to India by some LTTE cadre.

A team of the Bangalore Central Crime Branch police laid a trap by posing as buyers and arrested the trio. The three were then found to be trying to pass off a 3.5 kg aluminium block as red mercury.

The three were identified as Manigandan and Mohammed Haneef, of Hosur in Tamil Nadu and Nagaraj of Hoskote in Karnataka.

Police said they were real estate agents, who were drawn into the con job, plotted by a man identified as Jay Singh of Hosur, who is still at large. They were valuing the aluminium block at Rs 150 crore. They told the policemen, who laid trap, that the material could be used in making nuclear bombs.

They claimed that the red mercury consignment was brought to India by LTTE cadre after the death of its leader Prabhakaran. They were demanding Rs 5 lakh for providing a sample of the material. The aluminum block was not worth more than Rs 7,500.

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