Two men from London have been charged in connection with a suspected terror plot near RAF Fairford, the Crown Prosecution Service has announced.
Mohmed Abdulkarim, 24, and Nouman Essghir, 24, both British nationals from Westminster, London, face charges under the National Security Act 2003 and are due to appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court today.
Charges under the National Security Act
Abdulkarim has been charged with assisting a foreign intelligence service believed to be linked to Iran. Essghir has been charged with entering a prohibited place for a purpose prejudicial to the UK.
Frank Ferguson, Chief Crown Prosecutor for the CPS Special Crime and Counter Terrorism Division, said: "The Crown Prosecution Service has decided to prosecute two individuals with National Security Act offences following a Counter Terrorism Policing investigation into a high-profile incident involving RAF Fairford.
"We will continue to work closely with our partners as this complex investigation continues."
Police statements on the arrests
Assistant Commissioner Laurence Taylor, head of National Counter Terrorism Policing, said police believe Abdulkarim was assisting Iran. He said Essghir was charged under Section 4 of the National Security Act 2023 for suspected activity on Saturday 22 August, was first arrested at the scene in Gloucestershire on Sunday 27 September, and re-arrested on 20 October.
Taylor added that a second man, a 25-year-old dual UK/Iranian national, re-arrested on the same date, has been released without charge but remains on police bail following his first arrest on Thursday 1 October. Detectives also interviewed a further man under caution following the re-arrests.
Abdulkarim was charged under Section 3 of the National Security Act 2023, which makes it an offence to assist a foreign intelligence service. "In this case, we believe that country to be Iran," Taylor said.
Background to the incident
The villages of Whelford and Kempsford came under scrutiny after the incident at RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire last month. Three white vans were intercepted outside the military base, which at the time housed US fighter jets used in operations against Iran.
Following the alleged plot, Donald Trump's administration pulled US warplanes from the base. Prime Minister Andy Burnham accused Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of the incident, saying the regime's force was "almost certainly" behind it. Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, denied the claim, saying the PM was "barking up the wrong tree."
