No explosive devices were found in three vans searched near RAF Fairford as part of a terrorism investigation but a quantity of petrol was recovered, police have said. Five British nationals were arrested in the early hours of Sunday morning after a resident living near the Gloucestershire airbase reported suspicious activity involving three vans. Defending the decision to bail the men, Laurence Taylor, the head of UK Counter Terrorism Policing, said: “Yesterday we released the five men on police bail.
They remain under investigation and must adhere to strict conditions while we continue our work. The safety of the public is at the forefront of our investigative decision making, and this was certainly the case yesterday. However, a quantity of petrol was recovered.” The vans were marked by the logo of a legitimate fuel transit company that later denied ownership of the vehicles, which prompted speculation online and in the local community that the men could have been fuel thieves.
Residents were returning home on Tuesday after spending days evacuated from their village. Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, claimed the events were the work of a “foreign actor” but did not provide further details. He said “a lot of people are disturbed” after the release of the suspects from custody.
Donald Trump had earlier said he was “surprised” the group had been freed. Speculation has been growing about a connection between the weekend’s incident and Iran. The potential link was a key reason behind Andy Burnham’s decision to call a meeting of Cobra, the government’s crisis committee, on Monday, attended by senior police and security officials among others.
The same day Taylor said he knew there was “significant interest in whether the current geopolitical context has a bearing on this incident”. He added: “But be assured, we are considering this from every possible angle, including that this may be actively committed by proxies or individuals either knowingly or unknowingly working on behalf of a foreign state.” In March the British government gave the US permission to use the base for “specific defensive operations into Iran”. The country’s London embassy has said it “categorically rejects and strongly condemns the recent unfounded and malicious speculations” of Iranian involvement.
Eighty-five households were forced to decamp to a leisure centre on Sunday as the bomb squad and counter-terror police descended on the village of Whelford, where five British nationals were arrested for terror and explosives-related offences. Mark Richings, a butcher in Fairford, told the Press Association: “There’s no change in here and we just got on with it as normal. We are a bit quieter today, but everybody seems to be OK, and we are having a bit of a chat about it.
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