Update: Scotland Yard’s Counter Terrorism Policing released all five suspects on police bail and intimated the three white vans in question were not carrying bombs or explosives of any kind. Other investigators, members of the cabinet and MPs said the investigation has become extremely complex.
Five terrorism suspects arrested about a half mile away from the main runways of the Fairford Royal Air Force Base in Gloucestshire, England, appeared to be of Middle Eastern descent, according to a farmer who alerted police of suspicious activities in front of her house on early Sunday morning.
The farmer told the British tabloids she and another person were returning home from a party just after midnight and were unable to get into her driveway because it was blocked by vans. She turned around and left, when she saw “a large group” of men wearing masks and balaclavas flee in front of her headlights into woods and fields near her home. She told the newspapers they appeared to be of Middle Eastern origin. BBC reported national counter-terrorism police told them all five men are British subjects who lived in London. The female farmer told SkyNews there had been more than the five arrested, she saw between 8 and 10 men.
Labour Party secretary of defense Wes Streeting dismissed the discrepancy in numbers by saying the eye-witness saw what she saw but didn’t have “the full picture.” This will lead inevitably to speculation the other men were undercover, which in turn will lead to speculation the operation was a false-flag, aimed against Iran and carried out by US, UK or a joint clandestine operations team, possibly to draw the UK more closely into the American-Iranian war.
Ministry of Defense police failed to answer her telephone call to the airbase, so she called 999, the British emergency number, and the local constabulary responded. Five men were arrested near three white vans which reportedly contained a large volume of explosives. They were initially held on violation of an old fireworks and explosives statute, but a few hours later were also charged with planning a terrorist act.
Between about 4:00 A.M. and 6:00 A.M. local police and armed police units evacuated 84 homes in the local village adjoining the crime scene. Robots were used to remove the bombs from two of the vans but failed to open a third van in the middle of the small asphalted lane. This van bore what appeared to be a number from grainy helicopter footage broadcasted on SkyNews. The other vans didn’t have this logo, but one appeared to have some sort of lights on top between the driver and passenger seats. Police at press conference were not asked whether they were seeking a sixth van driver or passenger hiding in the area. The evacuation was extended 24 hours presumably because of the failure by the robots to open the central van. The items removed from two of the vans appeared to be large blue plastic barrels or vats, perhaps indicating crude fertilizer explosive.
According to globalmilitary.net:
“RAF Fairford is a Royal Air Force station located in Gloucestershire, United Kingdom, primarily hosting United States Air Force personnel and operations. Construction of the base began in 1943, and it became operational in 1944. Initially used by the Royal Air Force for airborne forces operations during World War II, including D-Day and Operation Market Garden, it transitioned to US Air Force control in 1950 at the start of the Cold War. A 3,000-meter runway was constructed to support long-range bomber operations, hosting aircraft such as the Convair B-36 Peacemaker and B-47s.
“From 1969 to 1977, Fairford served as the British test center for the Concorde aircraft due to its extended runway. The base later hosted Boeing KC-135 Stratotankers and the 11th Strategic Group, supporting aerial refueling operations and NATO exercises. Although the 11th Strategic Group was inactivated in 1990, the base remains a designated forward operating location for the US Air Force, notably supporting B-52 deployments during the 1991 Gulf War, Operation Allied Force in 1999, and the 2003 Iraq War. It is the USAF’s sole European airfield for heavy bombers and routinely supports Bomber Task Force operations.
“RAF Fairford underwent a $100 million upgrade of its runway and fuel systems between 2000 and 2002, with further improvements including climate-controlled hangars for B-2 stealth bombers completed by 2008. The base is owned by the British Ministry of Defence but operated by the US Air Force under the 1951 NATO Status of Forces Agreement. Current occupants include the 99th Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron, operating Lockheed U-2S Dragon Lady aircraft, and the 420th Air Base Squadron and 420th Munitions Squadron, which provide base and mission support. The station also hosts the Royal International Air Tattoo, an annual military airshow.”
The US Air Force was only established in 1947 after World War II. Before that it was the Army Air Corps under the US Army, although the US Navy also had aviation. In the early days of WWII US crews flew sorties out of RAF bases in England against Nazi Germany. The RAF suffered enormous losses of combat flight crews and airplanes until Arthur “Bomber” Harris took command of the RAF’s Bomber Command and changed tact from fatal daytime bombing raids to saturation-bombing at night, which was still highly inaccurate in terms of targeting and led to mass civilian deaths in Nazi Germany. His “area bombing” doctrine is credited or blamed from the Dresden firestorm in February of 1945. Harris was born in Cheltenham in Gloucestershire and grew up in Rhodesia.
During World War II the US essentially had its own airbases in Great Britain, nominally operated in concert with the RAF. Fairford was an important new base for Allied sorties but passed to full US control only after the war in 1950.
The group Palestine Action broke into RAF base Brize Norton in Oxfordshire on June 20, 2025, and damaged two military refueling airplanes inside a hangar. They used red spray-paint to deface aircraft surfaces and intentionally spray paint into the jet engines to damage the planes. They also used crowbars and fire extinguishers in an attempt to damage the two Airbus Voyagers. Security video inside the hangar showed one person arriving at the plane on a scooter. Four members pleaded not guilty at a hearing in December of 2025. A sixth suspect was reported to have been arrested as well. A trial date for the four charged was set for January 18, 2027. No bombs or explosives were found to have been used in that attack, which led the British Government, Parliament and secretary of state to proscribe Palestine Action as a terrorist group starting July 5, 2025. Members of Palestine Action faced earlier charges of damaging an Israeli productions facility in Britain and other sites. Mass arrests took place at rallies in London in solidarity with Palestine Action in the months following their proscription. The Crown claimed the damage at RAF Brize Norton amounted to £7 million.
Photos: Toms Wren/SWINS; PA