RAF MILDENHALL, England — More than a dozen self-described “international weapons inspectors” face charges in a Scottish court after breaching security at Glasgow’s Prestwick International Airport and boarding two aircraft — including a U.S. Air National Guard plane — in three separate incidents.
The U.S. Air Force did not report any security breaches Tuesday at any of its installations in England, according to Air Force public affairs officials.
Air Force officials declined to comment on any security enhancements.
The Air Force confirmed the aircraft boarded by the protesters is a C-130 cargo plane with the Delaware Air National Guard 166th Airlift Wing based out of Wilmington, Del., according to Air Force spokesman Maj. John Haynes.
The plane was conducting a mission under the command of the Air Mobility Command, based out of Scott Air Force Base in Illinois.
Officials at Scott were unable to provide information about the plane’s mission by Stars and Stripes’ deadline Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the 16 suspects from the Norfolk-based peace advocacy organization Trident Ploughshares were due in Ayr Sheriff Court on Tuesday following two incidents that occurred Sunday and Monday.
The protesters — ranging in age from 21 to 68 — were apprehended by officers from the Strathclyde Police Department, which issued a press release Tuesday addressing the security at the Prestwick airport.
“We will not go into specific detail about security of policing levels for obvious reasons,” Strathclyde Police Department spokesman Ian Learmonth said in the release. “Public safety is, as always, a top priority for the force.”
The arrests began shortly after midnight on Sunday, when four protesters were arrested following an alleged breach of security. Less than 28 hours later, seven additional protesters were apprehended after a similar alleged security breach.
And shortly before midnight Monday, five more protesters were detained at Prestwick airport, according to the Strathclyde Police Department.
Trident Ploughshares, which describes itself as a campaign to disarm the U.K. Trident nuclear weapons system “in a non-violent ... and fully accountable manner,” issued a press release on its Web site, www.tridentploughshares.org, hours after it claimed to have searched an Air National Guard plane.
“Inspectors searched a USAF Air National Guard plane and examined documentation and manuals before moving on to attempt to examine a Polar Air aircraft that was also present,” the release stated.
Polar Air is a sister company to Atlas Air and both are subsidiaries of the Purchase, N.Y.-based Atlas Air Worldwide Inc., which describes itself as “a global leader in the international air cargo market,” on its Web site, www.polaraircargo.com.
Stars and Stripes tried, but was unable, to reach a Polar Air official.
Last week dozens of protesters gathered outside RAF Mildenhall to protest Atlas Air flights that they alleged carried materiel en route to the Middle East.
An RAF Mildenhall spokesman confirmed that an Atlas Air plane landed at Mildenhall, but could not say what it carried.
Trident Ploughshares has 226 members from 14 countries who have logged 2,240 arrests that led to 520 trials and a combined 2,197 days in jail and $141,000 in fines, according to its Web site.
