Man arrested on suspicion of terror offences after uranium found on package at Heathrow

A man has been arrested on suspicion of a terror offence after traces of uranium were found at Heathrow Airport last month. A small amount of the radioactive material was

found on December 29 during the routine screening of a package found with a shipment of scrap metal that reportedly originated in Pakistan and arrived on a flight from

Oman. Police said a man, in his 60s, was arrested on Saturday morning on suspicion of a terror offence at an address in Cheshire and has now been released on

bail. Officers searched the man’s address but no material that was a threat to the public was found, the force said. 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.