Section 3 criminalizes conduct likely to materially assist a foreign intelligence service
British police re-arrested two men on Tuesday in connection with a planned attack on RAF Fairford, the air base where American planes were stored last month, officials said. The men were a 24-year-old British man and a 25-year-old British-Iranian man.
Police said the re-arrested men were arrested on suspicion of helping Iran’s foreign intelligence service. The arrests were made under Section 3 of the National Security Act, which makes it a crime to engage in conduct “likely to materially assist a foreign intelligence service.”
Laurence Taylor, a senior counterterrorism police officer, said, “So far seven men have been arrested in connection with our investigation.” He said the two men had been re-arrested for offenses relating to Section 3 and assisting a foreign intelligence service.
The other five men are out on bail, police said. Police have not released any of their names.
Investigators are examining “what that level of involvement was and the ambition behind it,” Taylor said. He described the investigation as live and said evidence gathering continues.
Taylor said police continued to consider Iranian state involvement highly likely.
In late September, police arrested five men in connection with the case and found them with gasoline, hooded clothing and masks. The five men were released on bail, and two more arrests followed.
British Prime Minister Andy Burnham later announced that the plot was likely tied to Iran. Iran denied the claim.
A few days after the arrests, the United States moved its bombers out of the air base.