International Citizens Inspection Team arrested at Scottish nuclear bases

Four Trident Ploughshares activists were arrested this morning carrying out a "citizens weapon inspection" of two nuclear bases on the Clyde.

Petter Joelson, a peace worker, and Linus Larsson, a web designer, both of whom are 23 and from Sweden, were arrested attempting to gain access to Faslane Naval base by swimming across the Gare Loch. They intended to spray the words "Blix, they're here" on the hull of the nuclear armed Trident submarine, referring to the inability of the UNMOVIC weapons inspection team (led by fellow Swede Hans Blix) to find evidence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. In a separate action Juho Vuori and Elina Hinkkanen, from Finland, were arrested at the perimeter fence of Coulport nuclear weapons depot, near Faslane. The actions formed part of a two-week international disarmament camp organised by Trident Ploughshares. Three of the activists will be held in police custody until a court appearance on Wednesday.

Trident Ploughshares spokesperson, David Heller, explained, "The British government was willing to wage a highly destructive war against Iraq, based on fabricated evidence of the presence of weapons of mass destruction. Yet, it still maintains its own arsenal of illegal nuclear weapons on board the Trident nuclear submarines based at Faslane. Today's action highlights the immorality, illegality, and sheer hypocrisy of this position."

These citizens inspections follow a breach of security at Faslane on Sunday night when two activists successfully swam into the high security Trident area at the base. The two are due to appear in court today in Dumbarton. There have been 34 arrests so far at the disarmament camp, which has been attended by anti-nuclear activists from Sweden, Finland, Belgium, Germany, Ireland and the United States, as well as from across Britain.