Two Men in Northern Ireland Charged Over 5G Mobile Mast Attacks

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) have charged two men – one aged 45 and the other aged 46 – with committing a series of arson attacks on 5G mobile network masts, occurring predominantly in the west Belfast area between 2023 and 2025.

Regular ISPreview readers will already be aware that, over the past few years, there has been somewhat of an increase in physical attacks against UK broadband and mobile networks, as well as the engineers responsible for building and maintaining them. Such attacks don’t just cause costly physical damage but can also leave local homes and businesses disconnected, often for a protracted period, from vital communication services.

Quite why people do this isn’t always clear. Most such incidents are often considered to be vandalism, although in some cases it can relate to the criminal theft of valuable network equipment (e.g. batteries or old copper telecoms cables) or form part of a dangerous protest.

During the COVID-19 pandemic there were also multiple attacks committed against both fixed and mobile networks, as well as direct assaults against engineers, which was fuelled by some bizarre and utterly preposterous conspiracy theories (e.g. the belief that COVID-19 was being spread or created by 5G mobile signals – fact check).

In this case both men were arrested on Monday 27th April and are due to appear before Laganside Magistrates’ Court on Monday, 25th May 2026. The 45-year-old man has been charged with eight counts of arson and conspiracy to commit arson, while the second man, aged 46, has been charged with arson and conspiracy to commit arson. All charges will be reviewed by the Public Prosecution Service (PPS).

Telecoms networks are usually considered to be part of Critical National Infrastructure (CNI) and damaging them is thus considered to be a serious crime, not least due to the way in which such activity can disrupt vital communication services for those who may depend on them (particularly telecare users and vulnerable people).