One of five Iranian men arrested this month over an alleged plot to attack Israel’s embassy in London is an asylum seeker living in a taxpayer-funded house, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.

Footage on social media showed Special Forces and armed police dragging the semi-naked 40-year-old from the house in Rochdale on May 3.

He was one of five Iranian men aged between 24 and 46 arrested under terrorism powers that day, with others held in Manchester, Stockport, Swindon and London.

One, a 24-year-old from Manchester, was released on bail under strict conditions on Monday.

It was later reported that the embassy in Kensington, west London, was the target of an attack that the alleged plotters were just hours away from executing. MI5 says Iran has been behind at least 20 terror plots in Britain since January 2022.

Now an MoS investigation has revealed the 40-year-old Iranian held in Rochdale lived in a terraced home managed by the British firm Serco, which houses asylum seekers around the country on behalf of the Home Office.

Neighbours and former asylum-seeker tenants of the house told the MoS that Serco had run it since at least 2015.

The run-down property usually accommodates four asylum seekers, with each having a bedroom and sharing the bathroom and kitchen. 

One of five Iranian men being arrested in Rochdale this month over an alleged plot to attack Israel ‘s embassy in London 

Another of the suspects was arrested by plain-clothed police officers in Swindon town centre  

Police forensic officers search a house on May 4, 2025 in Rochdale, England as part of an investigation into what the Met Police called ‘a suspected plot to target a specific premises’

One former asylum seeker, who lived at the house nine years ago, said tenants did not pay any rent or bills because Serco covered all the costs.

Asylum seekers arrive in Serco vans after staying in hotels. They stay until they get permission to stay in Britain, at which point they find their own accommodation.

Neighbours told the MoS that the 40-year-old man had lived at the property for more than six months, but did not speak to anyone beyond saying ‘Hello’. 

One, who did not want to give her name, said: ‘A Serco official told me they will not rent this house any more for asylum seekers.’

The Iranian is believed to have arrived in Britain illegally in a small boat and claimed asylum.

Police chiefs and Whitehall officials fear the Calais migrant route is being exploited by state-backed Iranian terrorists to commit atrocities on UK soil. 

There were fears last night that other members of the alleged plot may also be asylum seekers who crossed the Channel in small boats.

Terrorism expert Anthony Glees, of Buckingham University, said: ‘The Calais boat route self-evidently presents a clear and present danger to national security.

The Israeli embassy on Kensington Palace Gardens was reportedly the target of the alleged foiled terror plot

Police forensics officers in protective gear enter the taxpayer-funded home of the accused in Rochdale

A police forensic officers inside the cordoned off area of the home in Rochdale 

‘I have always said migrants should be met by warships, not lifeboats. A dedicated agent of a hostile state will use this route to come into the country.’

A record 11,000 small-boat migrants have arrived in Britain from Calais this year alone, despite Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s pledge to ‘smash the gangs’ behind the vile trade.

The figures also showed that last year Iranians (4,243 arrivals) were the third most numerous after Afghans and Syrians.

Alongside the five arrests, three other Iranian men were held on May 3 in London in a separate investigation, accused of spying under the National Security Act.

A fourth man was arrested yesterday in north-west London as part of the same inquiry.

Serco and the Home Office both declined to comment last night.