Fairford, England
The investigation into an alleged plot to attack an air base in England used by US long-range bombers continues, according to British Defense Minister Wes Streeting, and five unidentified men remain in custody.
The five men were arrested early Sunday near the Fairford base in western England, from where American B-1 bombers were flying missions against Iran.
British authorities have not revealed where the men are being held, or what was found in the three white vans the men appear to have used.
Aerial footage on Sunday showed a bomb disposal robot wandering between vans in the woods near the base. The rear doors of two of the vans were open and large black objects could be seen scattered on the ground nearby.
Nearby CNN crews then heard what sounded like two controlled bangs coming from the direction of the village where the vans were found.
In a series of interviews on Monday, Streeting was asked whether the incident could have been provoked by a hostile foreign state. He responded that he did not “want to speculate at this stage of the investigation.”
In July, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps specifically highlighted the use of Fairford by US bombers, warning the UK that “any base used for aggression against Iranian territory constitutes a legitimate target for our forces”.
It is unclear whether the five men were under surveillance before arriving in the Fairford area in the early hours of Sunday.
US President Donald Trump called the arrests “fantastic”, saying the US and UK had been investigating the men for a “long time”.
“Working with Britain, it was an incredible job,” Trump told reporters in Chicago. “They were looking to cause great damage to our fort and the collaboration with the British went very well. »
“We had them under surveillance for a long time and we got them,” he said.
British authorities have not commented on the US president’s claims.
Speaking at the ruling Labor Party’s annual conference, Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said the events in Fairford were “a reminder of the threats our country faces”.
“Hooded and masked”
Photographs of the men – shirtless, with their hands tied behind their backs – appeared in British media on Sunday.
They were first detained under laws on possession of explosives, but were later arrested “on suspicion of preparing a terrorist act”, according to a counter-terrorism police statement.
A local resident said she encountered the men on her way home on Saturday evening.
“I found the driveway and the road blocked by three white vans,” she told BBC radio on Monday.
“While driving a short distance from the vans, I saw a large group of hooded and masked men,” said the resident, who wished to remain anonymous.
“When they saw me, they ran in front of me, some into the field and others towards the neighboring village.”
“My impression was that they were fit and young, they were all wearing similar dark clothes.”
The resident said she immediately called police from the Department of Defense, which is responsible for base security, but they did not answer.
“At 1:36 a.m. I called (the emergency number) 999 to report what I had seen. Within 10 minutes the village was full of armed police.”
“I think it was by pure chance that I arrived in the village at the same time as the vans,” added the resident, a farmer.
Streeting thanked the resident but added that “she only has a partial picture.”
The work of the police and security services “is often unrecognized, unreported, and for good reason,” he said.
Several British media outlets – including the BBC, the Guardian and the Telegraph – reported, citing sources, that the operation was not carried out by intelligence services, suggesting that the vigilance of local residents may have played a key role in alerting the authorities.
Police received a first call at 12:45 a.m. local time on Sunday “regarding three suspicious vehicles that appeared to be heading towards the airbase,” according to a counterterrorism police statement.
The resident’s call – according to her own words – took place almost an hour later.
A cordon around the area where the men were detained remains in place, and a number of people have been evacuated from their homes.
Local people told CNN that security around the base had been increased in recent days, with roadblocks at the entrance. But the roads and lanes in the immediate vicinity were still open.
The woman who called police and another local resident said that in previous conflicts, such as the one against Iraq in 2003, there was heavy security around the base.
But security since the start of the Iranian conflict is less clear, they said.
In March, the British government authorized the US Air Force to use Fairford to carry out strikes on Iranian missile sites used to attack shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.
Days after the IRGC threatened Fairford in July, Iranian media published a video of a group describing themselves as Iranian patriots in front of the base’s perimeter fence.
“This is RAF Fairford, on British soil, the place where American military planes take off from these same runways to attack our people and our homeland,” says one man, with an Iranian flag hanging from the fence.
“We came to stand a few meters from the nest of hostile planes and wave the proud flag of Iran,” the unidentified man says in the video.
A US Air Force spokesperson in Fairford – where the 501st Combat Support Wing is based – told CNN on Sunday: “For operational security reasons, we will not discuss specific force protection measures. »
The unit “remains vigilant and will take appropriate action to ensure the safety and security of our U.S. service members, civilians, contractors and their families,” the spokesperson said.
CNN’s James Frater contributed to this report.
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