Liverpool man charged with assisting foreign intelligence service

Vahid Aberi, 39, from Liverpool, was arrested on Wednesday by Counter Terrorism Police officers in the Birmingham area. He was taken to a West Midlands police station, and officers carried out searches at addresses in the Birmingham and Liverpool areas. The Crown Prosecution Service charged Aberi with assisting a foreign intelligence service.

The investigation relates to Iran. He was remanded in custody. Aberi is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Friday, July 17. Commander Helen Flanagan, Head of Counter Terrorism Policing London, stated that the force has seen a significant and sustained increase in the tempo of its work in national security investigations in recent years.

She added that the case is another example of intervention to disrupt suspected activity linked to foreign intelligence services. Flanagan said the force has not identified any direct threat to the public or to any community or individual in connection with this investigation.

On Monday, it was announced that Sir Keir Starmer had decided to proscribe Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organisation under the National Security Act.