UK police charge two in RAF Fairford security case

UK anti-terrorism police said Tuesday that two 24-year-old British men had been charged with national security offences after an incident last month at RAF Fairford, a British airbase used by the United States.

Laurence Taylor, head of National Counter Terrorism Policing, said Nouman Essghir was charged with entering or approaching a prohibited place for a purpose “prejudicial” to the interests of the United Kingdom. Police said the charge related to suspected activity on August 22, without giving details.

Police said Mohmed Ahmad Abdulkarim was charged with assisting a foreign intelligence service. “In this case, we believe that country to be Iran,” the police service said.

Police were called to RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire in the early hours of September 27 after a local farmer reported a group of men with several white vans engaged in suspicious activity. Seven suspects were arrested in the days afterwards and later released on bail.

Police said both charged men live in Westminster, London. Six other men, all aged between 23 and 25 and living in London, remain on bail. Police said one of them is a dual British and Iranian national.

The United States withdrew all its B-1 bombers from RAF Fairford days after the September incident. The supplied information did not establish a reason for that withdrawal.