Two men face charges over a series of arson attacks on 5G masts spanning two years following a Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) investigation.
Detectives arrested the men and secured charges on Monday. They are accused of being involved in the attacks which took place between 2023 and 2025, primarily in the west Belfast area.
Neither of the accused was named. One of the men, 45, was charged with eight counts of arson and conspiracy to commit arson, while the other, 46, faces one charge of the same crime.
Both individuals are set to appear before Laganside Magistrates’ Court on Monday, May 25.
The PSNI would not reveal the names of the two men and declined to comment on whether these charges were issued in connection with an earlier case involving two males of a similar description.
Brothers Michael and Darren Clarke, reported at the time as being 45 and 44 years old respectively, were both charged in September after being tied by police to arson attacks on 5G masts in the west Belfast area.
Police also said around the same time that the spate of mast attacks was possibly “conspiracy-driven” and caused approximately £4 million ($5.4 million) worth of damage.
Since 5G masts started popping up across the UK and Europe in 2019, the surrounding conspiracy theories gathered a healthy following.
The prevailing falsehood about the masts was that their radiation can cause cell mutations in humans, leading to diseases such as cancer and even COVID-19.
The radiofrequency radiation used by the masts is not powerful enough to damage DNA, and there is no established link between adverse health conditions and telecommunication masts.
But many won’t let science get in the way of a good story. The Register has covered lots of tales over the years about people who believe they’re doing society a service by torching the 5G towers.
In the south of France, two monks infamously tried to damage a mast in 2021, but ended up inflicting minimal damage with an incendiary device.
A year earlier, Vodafone UK had a particularly torrid time cleaning up after a series of attacks targeted its masts, including those servicing a Birmingham Nightingale Hospital established to meet the increased demand on the NHS.
Then CEO of Vodafone’s UK business, Nick Jeffrey, described the arsonists as “deluded conspiracy theorists.”
He said the masts provided critical services to local communities who at the time may have had to say their final goodbyes to family members over the telephone due to COVID-19-related social distancing measures.
“Burning down masts means damaging important national infrastructure,” said Jeffrey in 2020 “In practice, this means families not being able to say a final goodbye to their loved ones; hard-working doctors, nurses, and police officers not being able to phone their kids, partners or parents for a comforting chat.
“Arsonists, please think about what you are doing and stop. Imagine if it were your mum or dad, your gran or grandad in hospital. Imagine not being able to see or hear them one last time. All because you’ve swallowed a dangerous lie.”
A separate incident in Liverpool led to one man receiving a three-year prison sentence for attacking a Vodafone-owned mast he thought was serving 5G signals, but was just a 4G mast that had to be upgraded. ®