A family playing cricket near RAF Fairford claim armed guards ordered them to leave the area after warning there was a "live incident" at the airbase, according to a report by The Daily Mail.
The family were playing near the perimeter of the Gloucestershire base at around 4.30pm last Saturday when they said two armed guards suddenly ran towards the fence and told them to leave.
Warning came hours before police operation
The alleged warning came more than eight hours before police received a 999 call about suspicious activity in nearby Whelford at around 12.45am on Sunday, which sparked a major armed police operation.
One of the cricketers said the family had played in the same area the previous evening without any problems, but claimed the situation was very different on Saturday. He told The Daily Mail: "We'd played the evening before with no issue, but on Saturday two guards ran to the fence with guns and said: 'You can't be here. There is a live incident going on. It's not safe.'"
Arrests and local concerns
Five men, all British nationals in their twenties and from London, were subsequently arrested on suspicion of explosives offences and preparing to commit a terrorist act. The family's account raises fresh questions about what was happening at RAF Fairford in the hours before the police operation.
Residents in nearby Dunfield also described hearing a public-address announcement inside the base on Saturday evening, followed by what appeared to be staff leaving the area. One resident claimed: "It's obvious the Americans knew something way before us. But if it affects them, it affects us. We are right next door. We're frustrated and scared at the lack of correspondence from the base and UK authorities."
The Daily Mail reported that families connected to the base left during the emergency and have since only been allowed to return to collect belongings. RAF Fairford has been used by US forces in military operations against Iran, amid escalating tensions between Washington and Tehran.
Investigation ongoing
In the early hours of Sunday, a woman returning to the nearby village reported seeing masked men and three suspicious vans close to her home. Armed officers rushed to the scene and arrested five suspects.
Counter Terrorism Policing later said the vehicles underwent extensive examination with military and forensic support. No improvised explosive devices were found, although a quantity of petrol was recovered. One of the men is also understood to have called police himself.
US President Donald Trump has previously said American authorities had been watching the suspects for "a long time", while US Secretary of State Marco Rubio suggested a foreign actor could have been involved. British counter-terrorism chiefs have stressed they are keeping an open mind and examining every possible angle, including possible foreign-state involvement.
All five men were released on police bail but remain under investigation and are subject to stringent conditions on their movement and contact with others. The investigation widened when a sixth suspect was arrested in Westminster on Thursday. The 25-year-old dual British-Iranian national was held on suspicion of preparing to commit terrorist acts, while two properties in the area were searched.
He was released on police bail yesterday, with Counter Terrorism Policing confirming that the investigation into the events near RAF Fairford remains ongoing. Around 85 households in Whelford were evacuated during the initial police operation, while a large cordon was put in place as bomb disposal experts examined the three vans.
Police have not publicly established whether the suspects were actually planning an attack on RAF Fairford, or what they intended to do with the petrol found in the vehicles. The claim from the cricket-playing family provides a new account of events at the airbase several hours before the arrests, although it has not been established publicly what prompted the armed guards to issue the warning.
