FIVE BRITISH NATIONALS HELD AT RAF BASE – Counter-terrorism police investigate suspected terrorist act at RAF Fairford
Five men arrested near RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire are all British nationals from London, counter-terrorism police have confirmed. The men, aged between 23 and 25, were detained early on Sunday after police received a 999 call and reports of three suspicious vans travelling towards the airbase.
Driving home from a party in the early hours, a local farmer came across three seemingly abandoned white vans blocking a quiet country road.
Confused, she turned her car around. As she did so, she saw a group of masked men in balaclavas scattering into the trees and across the fields towards RAF Fairford, located only a few hundred metres away. She drove off and called the police.
The men were initially arrested over suspected offences under the Explosives Act and were later detained on suspicion of preparing a terrorist act under the Terrorism Act. Army bomb disposal experts examined the vehicles, while around 85 households in nearby Whelford were evacuated as a precaution and a 400-metre cordon was established.
RAF Fairford is a British base used by the US Air Force, including for bomber operations against Iran, and investigators are examining multiple possible lines of inquiry.
Police have not confirmed a motive or publicly linked the suspects to Iran, Russia or any militant group, and the investigation remains ongoing. The five men remain in custody as counter-terrorism officers work to establish the circumstances surrounding the incident and the purpose of the vehicles.
