A Seventh Arrest Over the RAF Fairford Incident
A 22-year-old British man has been arrested in Westminster on suspicion of preparing terrorist acts under section 5 of the Terrorism Act. He is the seventh person held over the 27 September incident at the Gloucestershire airbase and nobody has yet been charged. Five men aged 23 to 25 and a 25-year-old dual Iranian-British national were all previously bailed.
Vicki Evans, the senior national coordinator for Counter Terrorism Policing, said the investigation remains live and that teams are “working around the clock, and at pace, to identify the motivation behind events in Gloucestershire”. That sentence is the admission underneath today’s arrest: more than a week on, and after the United States pulled every bomber out of the base, the motive is still not established. The original five were detained at Whelford in the early hours of 27 September after three suspicious vehicles were reported heading for the base, a major incident was declared and dozens of homes evacuated; police defended bailing them as “an investigative decision” grounded in experience. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards described Fairford as a legitimate target in July, and ministers have been briefed that Tehran uses proxies, sometimes unwitting ones, to consume resources and create disruption. The Iranian embassy in London “categorically rejects and strongly condemns the recent unfounded and malicious speculations”. United States European Command said today it would be inappropriate to discuss intelligence but that American forces remain at the highest state of readiness. The 28-day bail periods on the first five expire late this month. Watch whether anyone is charged before they do.