00:24On Sunday the 27th of September, police responded to an incident close to the
00:29perimeter of RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire, a military base and home to many US service
00:35personnel. Since then, Counter-Terrorism Policing has been leading a detailed investigation
00:41to understand the events leading up to that day and the ambition behind what happened.
00:47And I can confirm that we have now secured two charges as part of that investigation.
00:53Newman Esgier, a 24-year-old British national from the Borough of Westminster in London,
00:59has been charged under Section 4 of the National Security Act, which is an offence to enter,
01:06access, inspect or approach a prohibited place for a purpose prejudicial to the safety or
01:13interests of the United Kingdom. This was following suspected activity on Saturday the 22nd of August.
01:21I can also tell you that we interviewed another man under caution. That individual,
01:28Mohamed Ahmed Abul Karim, a 24-year-old British national from the Borough of Westminster, London,
01:35has now been charged under Section 3 of the National Security Act 2023, which makes it an offence to
01:42assist a foreign intelligence service. In this case, we believe that country to be Iran.
01:48This incident was defined by images of three vans being stopped and searched by armed police officers
01:55and the arrest of five men at the scene. The subsequent release of those five men on police bail
02:01sparked significant questions and speculation about the investigation and why that was the case.
02:08We know that decisions made during our investigations can sometimes appear illogical to those on the
02:14outside, but I want to make it very clear that there will always be a good reason or rationale behind
02:20them. It can take time to convert intelligence into evidence, and this is what scores of my officers and
02:26staff have been doing over the last few weeks. Their work has involved reviewing extensive CCTV footage,
02:33as well as the contents of dozens of digital devices seized as part of the investigation.
02:40And while some of the circumstances remain unclear, we are confident that this activity
02:45was conducted on behalf of a foreign intelligence service.
02:50We've seen a range of incidents in recent months that we believe have been directed by the Iranian state,
02:55and as the Director General of MI5 said recently, we're working together to intervene, identify and respond to that threat.
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