The entrance to Westminster Magistrates' Court is pictured in London, undated. Joshua Cammidge, a British national charged with spying for Russia's GRU by surveilling drone manufacturing sites in Swindon, is expected to appear at the court, which handles initial hearings in U.K. national security cases. (David Hawgood/Geograph.org.uk )
A British man accused of assisting Russian military intelligence was prepared to set fire to a British drone factory to demonstrate his allegiance to Moscow, according to court testimony this week in London.
Joshua Cammidge, 31, was arrested last week in his hometown of Swindon, England, an area known for U.S. and European drone production and other military activity.
RAF Fairford, a base used by the U.S. Air Force, is about 10 miles away from Swindon. Authorities have given no indication that the base was connected to the accusations against Cammidge.
According to news reports, Cammidge made contact with a volunteer group that prosecutors say is controlled by the GRU, Russia’s military intelligence agency.
Cammidge is charged with assisting a foreign intelligence service and engaging in preparatory conduct with the intent to commit an act of sabotage, according to prosecutors.
The former charge carries a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison, while the maximum punishment for the latter is a life sentence.
He has yet to enter a plea and is due to appear in London’s Central Criminal Court on Sept. 25. Cammidge denied all allegations when questioned by London police, according to the BBC.
Authorities say that between March and September, he provided a contact in Russia with Google Maps screenshots, addresses and details about activity at four drone manufacturing sites in Swindon, the BBC reported.
He is also accused of researching a Wi-Fi jamming device and conducting reconnaissance.
Prosecutors said the Russian contact was believed to be a member of the GRU Volunteer Corps. The U.K. designated the group a national security threat in July, making it a crime to support or assist the organization.
“We’ll continue to take whatever action is necessary to defend against the range of threats we face from Russia,” Security Minister Dan Jarvis said, according to The Associated Press.
Jarvis also referred to the spate of hybrid warfare attacks across Europe in the past year, saying they were “intended to sow fear, create disruption and undermine support for Ukraine.”
The most high-profile recent example was the discovery in August of an explosive-bearing drone near a Ukrainian cargo plane at the Leipzig airport in Germany.
Last week, the German government said an investigation showed that Russia was behind the attack. In response, a Russian cultural center in Berlin and the Kremlin’s last remaining consulate in Germany were ordered to shut down.
“We do not view Leipzig as an isolated incident but rather see it in the context of other hybrid actions,” Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said at the time. “We assume that Germany will be the target of further hybrid attacks by Russia.”
The British criminal case involves activity in a place that has been dubbed the country’s emerging “drone capital.”
In June, what the government described as Europe’s largest drone testing center opened in Swindon. Neros Technologies, an American manufacturer of first-person-view drones, also established its British headquarters in the area in March.
The company is investing $13.5 million over five years to produce combat drones for the U.K. and European allies.
