Man suspected of spying on UK military base for Iran arrested in Cyprus

LONDON, July 31 - A dual British-Azerbaijani national has been arrested in Cyprus on suspicion of spying on a British air base on the Mediterranean island and passing information to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, London police said on Friday.

Rashad Sultanov, 44, from Islington in north London, was arrested on July 17 by Cypriot authorities and is being held in custody as extradition proceedings progress, the Metropolitan Police said in a statement.

He was arrested as part of Britain's first overseas National Security Act investigation, led by counter-terrorism police into incidents at Britain's RAF Akrotiri base in Cyprus between May 11 and June 22 last year, the statement said.

Sultanov allegedly conducted hostile surveillance on the base and is alleged to have then shared information with the IRGC, it added.

"This case shows we are able to use the National Security Act overseas when British military bases are allegedly targeted by hostile state activity," Helen Flanagan, head of counter-terrorism policing in London, said in the statement. REUTERS