Counter-terror police are investigating after five men were arrested near RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire, a Royal Air Force base used by U.S. bombers in operations against Iran. The arrests followed a report of three suspicious vehicles heading towards the base in the early hours of Sunday, prompting a major security response around the site and nearby homes.
Police placed a 400-metre cordon around the vehicles and evacuated about 85 households while the Army’s explosive ordnance disposal unit examined the scene. The men were first detained on suspicion of offences under explosives legislation and later arrested on suspicion of preparing a terrorist act. Gloucestershire Police and Counter Terrorism Policing are leading the investigation, which remained at an early stage on Monday.
RAF Fairford has long served as a key U.S. bomber hub in Europe and has been used in recent strikes on Iran, making the incident directly relevant to force protection around American air operations in Britain. Security has been heightened at the base and other U.S. sites in the UK while investigators work to determine the purpose of the vehicles and whether the airfield was the intended target.