A man in his 60s has been arrested on suspicion of a terror offence after traces of uranium were found at Heathrow airport at the end of December, Scotland Yard has said.
The man was arrested after counter-terrorism officers searched an address in Cheshire on Saturday, 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, the Metropolitan police said.
Border Force officers found the radioactive material with a shipment of scrap metal on 29 December. Specialist scanners detected the uranium, which had reportedly arrived on a flight from Oman, as it was ferried to a freight shed, which then triggered alarms.
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.”
A spokesperson from the Met said the uranium was found during “routine screening” at Heathrow.
Col Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, a chemical and biological weapons expert and former head of the UK’s nuclear defence regiment, told the BBC on Wednesday that people should be reassured that it was detected.
He said: “It’s very clear that the comprehensive surveillance network that we have in place in this country, run by the security services, the police and others, has actually worked and picked up potentially a very dangerous containment that could provide a threat.
“In this country I think people should be pretty reassured that we’re not going to see dirty bombs from this type of material.”
Asked what could have happened to the metal, he said: “If it is for nefarious reasons, for bad reasons, to create mayhem … then that is an area of concern.
“But I think the key thing is that there are people looking out for this and this should not worry the public unduly.”
A Home Office spokesperson said: “We do not comment on live investigations.”
