In a statement issued on Sunday, counter-terrorism police said the discovery of uranium “within a cargo package” at Heathrow Airport on December 29 remained “clearly concerning”. However, they insisted that no material had been found at the arrested man’s home that could pose a threat to the public.
Officers arrested the man at an address in Cheshire on Saturday morning and released him on bail until April, after being questioned at a North West police station.
There are no apparent links to any direct threat to the public
Commander Richard Smith, who heads the Metropolitan Police’s counter-terrorism command, said: “The discovery of a very small amount of uranium inside a package at Heathrow Airport is clearly concerning, but it shows the effectiveness of the procedures and controls in place with our partners to detect this type of material.
“Our priority since we began our investigation has been to ensure that there is no direct threat linked to the public. To that end, we are pursuing all possible lines of inquiry at our disposal, which has led us to make this arrest over the weekend.”
The senior official downplayed public fears of an imminent threat.
“I want to be clear that despite making this arrest, and to the best of our knowledge at this time, this incident does not yet appear to be related to any direct threat to the public,” Chief Smith said. “However, detectives are continuing their inquiries to ensure that this is definitely the case.”
Police said officers were called after Border Force officials at Heathrow discovered the cargo contaminated with a “very small amount of uranium” during a routine inspection using sophisticated radioactive scanning equipment.
The identity of the businessman is still unclear, but it is suggested that he is involved in a company that imports scrap metal.
It is understood to have been inside metal bars originating in Pakistan which had been placed in the hold of an Oman Air passenger plane at Muscat Airport en route to London.
Senior police sources said the arrest was necessary for officers to rule out any wrongdoing, but continued to insist there was no threat posed by the discovery of the small traces of uranium.
Sources said it was more likely that the metal bars were accidentally contaminated, rather than part of a terrorist plot that posed a threat to the UK.
“The focus of the investigation is really to make sure there is no malicious intent attached to this,” a source said. “Clearly, the amount of uranium detected was very small, but given the nature of the material, detention was necessary.”