Man held over airport uranium

POLICE have arrested a man in his 60s for terror offences after traces of radioactive uranium were found in a cargo package at Heathrow Airport.

Border Force officers found the material with a shipment of scrap metal, which had originally come from Pakistan, on December 29. It had arrived on an Oman Air jet from Muscat.

Police in Cheshire detained the suspect on Saturday under the Terrorism Act. He has been released on bail until April.

Specialist officers searched his address and no material that could be a threat to the public was found, a Scotland Yard spokesman said. Scanners detected the uranium during routine checks. It was not weapons-grade material.

Commander Richard Smith, who leads the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command, said last night: ‘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.’