The existence of this confidential Afghan Response Route, which was established in April 2024, was kept confidential by an injunction but can now be reported following a High Court ruling on Tuesday. The MoD declined to say how many have been arrested or killed as a result of the data breach. Defence secretary John Healey is expected to confirm further details in the House of Commons later on Tuesday. The unauthorised data breach was committed by an unnamed individual at the MoD. The data related to Afghans who worked with international forces following the 2001 invasion of the country. As US troops completed their withdrawal in August 2021, the UK government set up Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (Arap) scheme, which was designed to rapidly process applications by people who feared reprisals from the Taliban and move them to the UK. But it emerged on Tuesday that thousands of those who applied for that scheme had sensitive personal data leaked by a British official. Arap has already been heavily criticised in the years since it was launched, with a 2022 inquiry by the Foreign Affairs Committee finding it was a "disaster" and a "betrayal".