Questions are swirling around Royal Air Force Base Fairford in England after five British men in their 20s who were arrested Sunday on suspicion of planning act
Questions are swirling around Royal Air Force Base Fairford in England after five British men in their 20s who were arrested Sunday on suspicion of planning acts of terrorism were released.
Assistant Commissioner Laurence Taylor, head of Counter Terrorism Policing, said the men were freed but remain under investigation.
“I can confirm that following extensive interviews and inquiries, the five men who were arrested are being released on police bail this afternoon,” Taylor said.
On Monday afternoon in the Oval Office, President Donald Trump was asked about it and responded:
“I’m surprised that they released them. I wouldn't have done it.”
British authorities said the men are still under investigation in connection with an incident involving three white vans and what were initially thought to be explosives discovered close to the same base used by the United States to launch bombers at Iran.
The base has been on high alert at least since July, when the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps warned: “Any base used to launch attacks on Iranian territory is a legitimate target for our forces.”
A farmer who called the police described what she saw in an interview with Sky News.
“I suddenly saw a large group of men and they were panicking and they started to run; some of them ran straight ahead into the field,” she said.
Trump reacted Sunday, saying the U.S. had been working with Britain.
“Working with Britain, it was an amazing job. We had him under investigation. They were looking to do big damage to our port and working with the British worked out great. We had them under view for a long time and we got em,” Trump said.
Authorities have also raised the possibility that those arrested could be low-level criminals paid by hostile states or other proxies in an effort to make terror plots harder to detect.
“Often this threat becomes visible to us as criminal activity, often at a small scale and committed by individuals whose primary aim is not terrorism but a quick financial gain,” Taylor said.
Iran denied involvement. The Iranian Embassy in London said that it "categorically rejects and strongly condemns the recent unfounded and malicious speculations" about the incident.
Residents were evacuated from 85 homes in the village of Whelford near the base on Sunday, and army bomb-disposal experts used a robot to examine the three white vans and make sure they would not explode/.
Iran has denied any involvement in the suspected plot. Iran’s embassy issued a statement calling any links “fabricated speculations.”
In an interview with CNN Monday, Homeland Security Analyst Donnell Harvin said there could be any number of reasons for proxies to pay others to carry out a plan, even if it remains unconfirmed what happened in this case.
You know, in my former intelligence life, we would actually be analyzing this to see if this was some type of probing incident where a state actor may have just hired some dupes, uh, some individuals who didn't know, hey, drive these vans there and see what happens. And they're actually collecting intelligence off of this.
