A man has been arrested on suspicion of a terror offence after traces of uranium were found at Heathrow Airport.
Counter-terror officers searched an address in Cheshire on Saturday (January 14), where they arrested a man in his 60s on suspicion of an offence under Section 9 of the Terrorism Act 2006, which covers the making and possession of radioactive devices. He has been released on bail until April.
It comes after a routine screening of a package that was coming into the UK via Heathrow airport on December 29. Border Force officers at Heathrow seized the material that was contaminated with uranium, reported Manchester Evening News.
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Anti-terror police have said they are following 'every possible line of inquiry' as part of the investigation and that the incident does not appear to be linked to any direct 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 inquiry 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 inquiries to ensure this is definitely the case.”
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