Concerns over Saudi air force pilots being trained at RAF Valley

SAUDI Arabian military pilots are being trained at RAF Valley.

The news that airmen from the controversial regime are receiving training at the Anglesey base has prompted questions about the potential threat risk to north Wales.

The Saudi regime – currently in the headlines over the disappearance and death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi – is involved in a longrunning campaign in the Yemen which has provoked international condemnation.

An MoD source said Britain had been supplying the Royal Saudi Air Force with Tornado and Typhoon jets in the biggest trade deal of its type since the 1980s, and that the deal includes the training of engineers and air crews to enable them to fly the jets and that training includes the use of Hawk jets.

Questions about their presence were raised in a written parliamentary question by a Welsh MP to defence ministers yesterday.

Jonathan Edwards, shadow Plaid Cymru spokesman for Foreign Intervention, asked Defence Minister Mark Lancaster “what discussions he has had with North Wales Police on the potential effect on the security threat level of training Saudi pilots at RAF Valley?”

The answer from Mr Lancaster was that “the RAF Police, together with RAF Valley authorities, maintains routine contact with the North Wales Police.

“The current assessment is that there is a negligible potential security risk to North Wales associated with training Saudi pilots at RAF Valley so there have been no specific discussions with North Wales Police on this subject. All such assessments are kept under constant review.”

The Daily Post has contacted Carmarthen East and Dinefwr MP Mr Edwards, and also the Ministry of Defence and North Wales Police.

Anglesey MP Albert Owen’s office said it had no comment to make at the moment.