US says ‘foreign actor’ behind RAF Fairford terror plot – ‘very serious threat’

The US has blamed Sunday’s incident at RAF Fairford on a ‘foreign actor’ and says there is ‘a lot more’ to come out of the arrests.

Police in Gloucestershire arrested five men in Whelford, near RAF Fairford, a base used by the US Air Force for combat operations at around 12:45am on Sunday (September 27). The bomb squad was called in to assess three vans spotted by a farmer who called 999 as she came home from a party.

It was initially believed they had links to Iran, as RAF Fairford has been used by the Americans to launch bombing raids on the Middle Eastern country. Tehran’s London embassy earlier said it “categorically rejects and strongly condemns the recent unfounded and malicious speculations” of Iranian involvement.

Hours later, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has told Fox News the ‘very serious’ alleged terror plot was put together by a ‘foreign actor’ but he declined to name the organisation he suspects.

The head of UK Counter Terrorism Policing, Assistant Commissioner Laurence Taylor, acknowledged speculation over whether Iran was behind the plot and said the force was considering ‘every possible angle’.

In a statement outside New Scotland Yard on Monday, Mr Taylor said he knew there was “significant interest in whether the current geopolitical context has a bearing on this incident”. During his statement, he confirmed the five men arrested, all British nationals living in London, have since been released on bail by police.

President Donald Trump has expressed his ‘surprise’ at the bail decision. Speaking in the Oval Office on Monday, Mr Trump said: “I will tell you, I would have said ‘Don’t let them have bail’. I’m surprised that they released them. I wouldn’t have done that.”

Prime Minister Andy Burnham chaired a Cobra meeting on Monday. After the meeting, Defence Secretary Wes Streeting said the decisions around bail were operational matters for the police and prosecutors, and the investigation remained ongoing.

However, Mr Rubio lavished praise on British cops, calling officers ‘very co-operative’. He said: “I know a lot of people are disturbed by the news that some of these people have been released on bail… Obviously we’re engaging with them on all of that.

“But suffice it to say that beyond that, I would argue that they’ve been very co-operative and very helpful on something that’s a very serious incident, and I think it ties us to the reality here.”

The five suspects are a 24-year-old from Camden, north London; three men aged 23, 24 and 25 from Westminster, central London, and one aged 24 from Willesden, north-west London.

Mr Taylor said the men were released on bail under ‘stringent conditions’ on Monday but ‘absolutely remain under investigation as we explore multiple lines of inquiry’.

Residents evacuated from about 85 households were able to return home on Monday, but a cordon remains in place around the vehicles. It is understood that the material found was not viable explosives, but police have said the investigation is continuing.