Two charged with national security offences over RAF Fairford incident

Two British nationals have been charged with national security offences over an incident at RAF Fairford, with one suspected of assisting Iran’s intelligence service.

Mohmed Ahmad Abdulkarim, 24, has been charged with assisting a foreign intelligence service following the incident near the airbase in Gloucestershire in September.

Nouman Essghir, also 24, has been charged with entering a prohibited place for a purpose prejudicial to the UK on 22 August. Both men will appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court later.

Three suspicious vans were seen near the US-operated airbase on 27 September.

Police found petrol inside the vehicles and put up a huge cordon around the base for several days.

Another man, a 25-year-old UK-Iranian national, who was re-arrested last week, has been released without charge but remains on police bail following his first arrest earlier this month, Counter Terrorism Policing has said.

Head of counter-terror police, Assistant Commissioner Laurence Taylor, said that Essghir, a British national from Westminster, had been charged on Tuesday under Section 4 of the National Security Act 2023 over suspected activity on 22 August.

He was first arrested at the scene near RAF Fairford on 27 September, and re-arrested on 20 October.

Eight men in total have been arrested as part of the counter-terror police investigation, including five near the airbase in September.

Those five were initially arrested on suspicion of committing offences under the Explosives Act and then further arrested on suspicion of preparation of a terrorist act.

Six men remain on police bail.

Iran has previously denied any involvement in the incident.