Two men charged under National Security Act after RAF Fairford incident

A 24-year-old man has been charged with assisting a foreign intelligence service over last month's incident near RAF Fairford.

Mohmed Abdulkarim and another man, Nouman Essghir, 24, who has been charged with entering a prohibited place for a purpose prejudicial to the UK, will appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court later.

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.

CTP believe the foreign intelligence service involved in the case is Iran.

Three suspicious vehicles were seen near the US-operated airbase in Gloucestershire on 27 September, leading to a major incident being declared.

Eight men in total have been arrested as part of the counter-terror police investigation.

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.

Six men remain on police bail in total, including four men from London who were arrested near the airbase on 27 September.