Nuclear base crime inquiries

The base is home to Trident submarines

A total of 74 workers are being investigated for theft from the Faslane nuclear submarine base on the Clyde.

Ministry of Defence Police said workers at the base, home to the UK's Trident submarines, were under investigation for alleged thefts.

A spokesman said that the suspected crimes by some of the base's 5,000 staff were not thought to be linked.

The revelations will raise questions over security at the base where nuclear warheads are stored.

The revelations raise security concerns

The MoD Police spokesman said: "This figure is a snapshot.

"There are 74 investigations going on, the majority of them into minor theft.

"Some are in court, some are going to court and some are unlikely to be taken to court. There is no suggestion they are linked."

The spokesman said he could not disclose what was alleged to have been stolen from the base.

The base has been at the centre of a series of security alerts.

In November, four holidaying Irish pensioners drove deep into the facility, which is surrounded by a razor-wire fence patrolled day and night by armed police with dogs, and asked: "Is this the road to Arrochar?"

Base protests

Last year, a landmark ruling at Greenock Sheriff Court cleared three women of deliberately damaging research equipment at a facility related to Faslane on the grounds they were "disarming" the nuclear deterrent, the use of which Sheriff Margaret Gimblett ruled was illegal.

Armed with only with a hammer and screwdriver the three women opened a window on a floating barge, climbed in and started to throw laboratory computer and electronic equipment overboard.

Scottish Socialist MSP Tommy Sheridan has pledged to continue campaigning against the base after spending five days in prison for his part in a protest at the base in February.