Georgia’s State Security Service has apprehended a man for allegedly trying to sell uranium-238 to a foreign national for $700,000. The Georgian citizen, whose identity has been kept under wraps, was detained in a joint operation involving counter-intelligence and special operations officers.
He could face up to 10 years in prison if convicted.
The videos of the arrest, released by authorities, show armed officers pulling the suspect from a white sedan and handcuffing him on the ground.
Agents were also seen checking two small containers in the car’s trunk with a handheld radiation detector. One appeared to contain a pale-coloured powder.
In case you are wondering, no! uranium-238 is not an enriched form of uranium and is not capable of being used to build a nuclear bomb. It is the most common naturally occurring isotope of uranium.
However, its incapacity to be used in a nuke does not make an alleged private sale harmless.
Nuclear and radioactive materials are tightly controlled because of the risks posed by improper handling, illicit trafficking and their potential use in other dangerous applications.
Investigators have not publicly identified the foreign national who was allegedly supposed to buy the material, nor have they said how much uranium was involved.
2026-10-07 19:28:00
