This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Counter-terrorism police investigating an alleged plot to pass military secrets to the Chinese have arrested a man on suspicion of breaching the Official Secrets Act.

Scotland Yard confirmed a man in his 70s was arrested on Tuesday afternoon and taken to a police station in Derbyshire before being released under investigation.

Scotland Yard said a search warrant was executed at an address in the West Midlands and that a further search at an address in Derbyshire was ongoing.

According to the Sun, the man, said to be a former Rolls-Royce employee, was arrested amid fears classified information about Britain’s new multimillion-pound F-35 stealth fighter jets may have been passed to Beijing.

Rolls-Royce was one of several UK companies with contracts to produce parts of the jet, which touched down at RAF Marham in Norfolk for the first time last week.

At the time, the chief of the air staff, Air Chief Marshal Sir Stephen Hillier, described the craft as “the future of our air power for decades to come”.

A Rolls-Royce spokesman said the company could not comment on the arrest while the investigation was ongoing.