US Air Force man arrested in Guantanamo Bay

The mystery surrounding apparent security breaches at Guantanamo Bay, America’s prison for suspected terrorists deepened tonight as it emerged that a member of the US Air Force had been arrested.

The man, who has not been named, was detained earlier this month for investigation into the possible misuse of classified material, military sources said.

News of the arrest came days after it was also announced that a US Muslim military chaplain at Camp Delta in Guantanamo Bay had been arrested, apparently on spying charges.

Pentagon sources would not say whether the two arrests were linked.

The Air Force man, whose rank is also being withheld, is believed to be in custody in California.

On September 10, Muslim chaplain Yousef Yee, 35, was arrested in Jacksonville, Florida after getting off a flight from Guantanamo Bay.

Documents were confiscated from him and he was detained at a Navy installation in Charleston, South Carolina. He can be held for up to two months.

Guantanamo Bay, on the south tip of Cuba, is home to about 660 prisoners suspected of being members of al Qaida or the Taliban.

The inmates are being interrogated to glean information which could held the Bush Administration and intelligence and security agencies in their so-called war on terror.

Among those being detained are nine Britons, including Feroz Abbasi, 23, and Moazzam Begg, 35.