WANA (Jul 31) – London’s Metropolitan Police announced that a British dual national has been detained in Cyprus on suspicion of conducting “hostile reconnaissance” at the Royal Air Force (RAF) Akrotiri airbase and sharing intelligence with Iran.

 

According to reports, 44-year-old Rashad Sultanov, who holds dual British-Azerbaijani citizenship, was arrested by Cypriot authorities on July 17. He remains in custody as extradition proceedings to the UK get underway.

 

The arrest follows a counter-terrorism investigation led by the Metropolitan Police into incidents that took place at RAF Akrotiri—a major British military hub in Cyprus—between May 11 and June 22 of last year.

 

Police confirmed that Sultanov, a resident of Islington in North London, was detained under the UK’s National Security Act. This marks the first investigative case involving alleged offenses committed in overseas territories prosecuted under this statutory framework.

 

Commander Helen Flanagan, head of the Metropolitan Police Counter Terrorism Command, stated that the case demonstrated the police’s ability to utilize the National Security Act extraterritorially whenever British military installations were targeted by hostile state activity.

 

She added that extensive cooperation had taken place between UK and Cypriot law enforcement agencies, and confirmed that they would continue working closely with partners at the Crown Prosecution Service, the National Crime Agency, and Cypriot authorities as the extradition process moved forward.