Rashad Sultanov Cyprus extradition began after Cypriot police arrested Rashad Sultanov, a 44-year-old from Islington, north London, on 17 July. He is being held in Cyprus while extradition proceedings continue over allegations that he carried out hostile surveillance at RAF Akrotiri for Iran.
The Crown Prosecution Service says he will be charged under the National Security Act. The case is being treated as the first time an alleged offence under the 2023 law has been investigated in an overseas territory.
RAF Akrotiri and the 2025 investigation
The investigation focused on alleged spying between 11 May 2025 and 22 June 2025. That period sits inside a wider security picture around RAF Akrotiri, the UK military base in Cyprus that has hosted a permanent UK presence since the 1950s.
The source also says RAF operations to shoot down Iranian missiles and drones have been launched from RAF Akrotiri in recent months. Against that backdrop, the allegation is not just about surveillance near a base but about information that could have reached the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.
Helen Flanagan on extradition
Commander Helen Flanagan, head of CTP London, said: "This case shows we are able to use the National Security Act overseas when British military bases are allegedly targeted by hostile state activity." She added: "A huge amount of partnership work has been carried out between British and Cypriot law enforcement agencies."
Flanagan said: "We continue to work with colleagues from the CPS, National Crime Agency and Cypriot authorities as extradition proceedings progress." That leaves the immediate question on the legal track rather than the operational one: the arrest has already happened, and the case now moves through extradition and the expected charge under the National Security Act.
What Rashad Sultanov faces next
Sultanov’s case matters because it joins an overseas arrest, a UK military base in Cyprus, and a law that the Crown Prosecution Service says will be used in court. For Sultanov, the practical consequence is continued custody in Cyprus while British and Cypriot authorities work through the extradition process and the National Security Act charge follows.
The next confirmed step is the progress of those extradition proceedings, with the Crown Prosecution Service, National Crime Agency and Cypriot authorities still involved. The unresolved point is the evidence said to connect Sultanov to the alleged hostile surveillance and any sharing of information with the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.
