Three British men are being held by Taliban in Afghanistanon April 1, 2023 at 10:27 pm

Three British nationals are currently being held in custody by the Taliban in Afghanistan, a humanitarian organisation has told the BBC.

Scott Richards from the Presidium Network named one of the men as Kevin Cornwell, 53, from Middlesbrough.

Mr Richards said he and another unnamed man had been arrested on 11 January. He confirmed a third British man was also taken into custody on a different date.

The Foreign Office said it was working hard to contact the men.

The Presidium Network is a UK-based non-profit organisation that provides support to communities in crisis, representing the needs of people affected by violence or poverty to international policy makers.

Mr Richards confirmed the organisation is representing Mr Cornwell and the second unnamed man but not the third British national.

The third man has been named by Sky News and the Mail on Sunday as Miles Routledge, 23, from Birmingham, who was evacuated from Afghanistan by British Armed Forces in August 2021. Neither the UK Foreign Office nor the Presidium Network has confirmed the identity of the third man.

The former Loughborough University student has attracted attention by travelling to dangerous countries and posting about it on social media.

He previously shared that he chose Afghanistan because he enjoyed “dark” and “extreme” tourism.

Following his extraction from the country less than two years ago, he told the BBC he was “exhausted but relieved” and thanked the British Army who had been deployed to support the evacuation of UK nationals from Kabul.