Overview
- The Crown Prosecution Service charged Mohmed Abdulkarim and Nouman Essghir on Tuesday with offences under the National Security Act 2023 and they are due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court.
- Abdulkarim faces a count of assisting a foreign intelligence service that police say they believe to be Iran while Essghir is accused of entering a prohibited place for a purpose prejudicial to the UK linked to suspected activity on Aug. 22.
- Police were called after reports of suspicious vans near RAF Fairford on Sept. 27, when dozens of nearby residents were evacuated and officers found petrol in the vehicles but no explosives.
- Six other men arrested during the probe remain released on bail following a series of arrests and re-arrests in early October, and the U.S. removed B‑1 bombers from RAF Fairford on Oct. 4 over security concerns.
- The charges mark the first prosecutions in a complex inquiry that has increased UK–US intelligence and diplomatic coordination and could change how allied bases in Britain are protected and policed.