Man arrested and house raided after uranium discovery at airport

A man in his 60s has been arrested on suspicion of smuggling uranium into the UK.

The Metropolitan police said the man was arrested on Saturday January 14 at an address in Cheshire and was taken to a station in north west England for questioning.

The suspect was held under Section 9 of the Terrorism Act 2006.

He was subsequently released on Sunday on bail until a date in April.

His house was searched by police officers who said they found no material that could pose a threat to the public.

Cheshire Police and units from Counter Terrorism North West also took part in the raid.

Officers from the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command were originally contacted by the UK Border Force at Heathrow on December 29, after traces of uranium were discovered in a cargo package containing scrap metal.

The head of the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command sought to reassure the public that all measures were being taken to ensure their safety.

He emphasized that the police had not yet found any link that suggested a direct threat to the public.

Commander Richard Smith 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 make 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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