Patrick Henningsen

NEW: Staggering details emerging from Westminster Mags on the RAF Fairford plot today. One of the five men arrested near the US military base called the police after a "handler" warned there was a bomb in the van, a court heard. Mohmed Abdulkarim, 24, and Nouman Essghir, 24, both appeared in court on Tuesday charged under the National Security Act 2023. Abdulkarim, of London, is accused of assisting a foreign intelligence service, by acting as an “intermediary” for the handler Ali. While Essghir, also of London, has been charged with entering a prohibited place for a purpose prejudicial to the UK, relating to an alleged “reconnaissance” mission on August 22, around a month before the Fairford incident. The group were ordered to drive the van loaded with petrol to RAF Fairford by a handler known as ‘Ali’ who police believe was working on behalf of Iran. No explosives, or improvised explosives were found in the vans, the court heard. Police did find a metal oil drum in each, two of which had petrol in, along with hard plastic water butts and internet-enabled dashcams. Prosecuting, Louise Gray, said: “Shortly thereafter the message was received that there was a bomb in the vehicles and one of them called the police.” Abdulkarim is alleged to have aided the organiser, Ali, who is believed to be abroad and to be acting in the interests of the Iranian state. Ali is also potentially connected to an incident at the Israeli embassy earlier this year, where propaganda videos were posted online suggesting it had been attacked with a chemical weapon by a drone, the court heard. Prosecutors allege that Abdulkarim aided Ali, buying equipment for the mission and receiving multiple payments from him totalling around £70,000. Before the men, allegedly enlisted by Abdulkarim, travelled to RAF Fairford, £300 worth of petrol was filled into the drums in the back of the vans.