Man arrested in connection with airport uranium investigation

A man has been arrested and released on bail as part of the investigation into the uranium found at Heathrow airport in December.

A security alert was triggered at the airport on 29 December, leading to a response from officers from the Metropolitan Police's Counter Terrorism Command.

The uranium was found in a shipment of scrap metal and police said there was no threat to the public.

Commander Richard Smith, who leads the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command, said: “The discovery of what was a very small amount of uranium within a package at Heathrow Airport is clearly of concern, but it shows the effectiveness of the procedures and checks in place with our partners to detect this type of material.

“Our priority since launching our investigation has been to ensure that there is no linked direct threat to the public. To this end, we are following every possible line of enquiry available to us, which has led us to making this arrest over the weekend.

“I want to be clear that despite making this arrest, and based on what we currently know, this incident still does not appear to be linked to any direct threat to the public.

“However, detectives are continuing with their enquiries to ensure this is definitely the case.”

On Saturday morning, officers attended an address in Cheshire, supported by colleagues from Cheshire Police and Counter Terrorism Police North West and a man was arrested on suspicion of an offence under Section 9 of the Terrorism Act 2006.

Officers also carried out a search at the property and no material that could be a threat to the public was found.

The man, in his sixties, was taken to a police station in north west England and has been released on bail until April.

The investigation is continuing.

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