New Delhi: British prosecutors charged two men with national security offences on Tuesday following an investigation into suspicious activity near RAF Fairford, a military airbase used by American forces. One is accused of assisting a foreign intelligence service that police believe to be Iranian, while the other faces a separate charge concerning activity near a prohibited place.
The defendants, Mohmed Ahmad Abdulkarim and Nouman Essghir, both 24 and from London’s Westminster borough, were scheduled to appear at Westminster magistrates’ court the same day. The charges follow a monthlong investigation into the September 27 security incident near the Gloucestershire base, although the alleged offences cover earlier dates.
According to the Crown Prosecution Service’s charging statement, Abdulkarim allegedly engaged in conduct likely to materially assist a foreign intelligence service in carrying out UK-related activities between August 31 and September 28 this year. Prosecutors allege that he knew, or ought reasonably to have known, that his conduct would provide such assistance.
Essghir faces a charge under section 4 of the National Security Act 2023 relating to an August 22 incident in which he allegedly “inspected, approached or was in the vicinity of” a prohibited place. Although prosecutors describe the offence as entering a prohibited place for a purpose prejudicial to the UK, the particulars allege that he inspected, approached or was near such a place for a purpose detrimental to the country’s safety or interests.
The distinction matters because the two men face different allegations, and neither charge establishes that an attack took place. The prosecution service emphasized that the proceedings are active and that guilt can be determined only by a court.
Suspicious vehicles triggered security operation
The investigation began after police received reports of three suspicious vehicles apparently travelling towards RAF Fairford at about 12.45am on September 27. Armed officers arrested five men in nearby Whelford on suspicion of explosives offences and subsequently on suspicion of preparing a terrorist act, according to the police account of the initial operation.
A 400-metre cordon was established, and around 85 households were evacuated as a precaution while British military bomb-disposal specialists examined the vehicles. Police later said they had recovered petrol but found no improvised explosive devices, a significant qualification to the initial explosives-related suspicions.
The five men were released on conditional police bail as investigators continued examining the circumstances and searching properties in London. Police said their inquiries included whether individuals might have been acting, knowingly or unknowingly, on behalf of a foreign state.
Essghir was among those arrested near the base and was rearrested on October 20. Abdulkarim was charged after detectives interviewed an additional man under caution during the subsequent phase of the investigation, the British counterterrorism police said.
A separate 25-year-old British-Iranian dual national, also rearrested on October 20, was released without charge in relation to that arrest but remains on bail following his original arrest on October 1. Five other men arrested during the investigation also remain on police bail.
Airbase’s role gives case wider significance
RAF Fairford had been used by US bombers to conduct strikes against Iran, placing the investigation within the wider confrontation between Washington and Tehran. American bombers were subsequently withdrawn on security grounds after the September incident, as RNA Media had reported.
The British prime minister, Andy Burnham, previously said the activity was likely to have been coordinated in Iran. Iran’s ambassador to Britain denied that allegation, leaving the question of state involvement contested as the criminal proceedings begin.
The head of Britain’s national counterterrorism policing network, assistant commissioner Laurence Taylor, linked the investigation to broader concerns about suspected Iranian state activity. He said police and MI5 were working together to identify and counter the threat, while investigators continued gathering evidence in the Fairford case.