Foreign powers are using social media to recruit people in Britain to carry out attacks for cash, a leading terror expert has warned, as questions grow over whether the RAF Fairford arrests were detected by intelligence agencies.
Jonathan Hall KC said Russia and Iran had used Telegram channels to advertise jobs to potential recruits, creating what he described as a “perfect tasking environment” for hostile states.
Arrests near RAF Fairford
His warning came after five men were arrested near the base in Gloucestershire on Sunday in a major counter-terrorism operation. The men were initially held on suspicion of explosives offences after armed police responded to a 999 call reporting three suspicious vehicles travelling towards the airbase.
They were later arrested on suspicion of preparing a terrorist act, while Army bomb disposal experts examined the vans. Roughly 85 households in nearby Whelford were evacuated and a 400-metre cordon was put in place.
Counter Terrorism Policing is now leading the investigation. Police said all five suspects are British nationals from London, with one from Camden, three from Westminster and one from Willesden.
Investigation and possible lines of inquiry
Britain's top counter-terrorism police officer, Assistant Commissioner Laurence Taylor, said today the men had been released on bail and insisted the probe into the alleged bomb plot is not “over”.
However, Iran is among the possible lines of inquiry, amid tensions over RAF Fairford's use by US forces in strikes against Iran. Reuters reported that Iran's Revolutionary Guards had previously described bases used for attacks on Iranian territory as legitimate targets.
The Iranian Embassy has issued a statement “categorically” rejecting attempts to link the country to the Fairford incident.
Intelligence uncertainty
Mr Hall, the independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, said it was impossible to know from the information currently available whether intelligence agencies had been aware of the alleged plot before the arrests.
He said: “My experience is that intelligence is a murky business, and it’s often deliberately unclear as to what the position is.”
“It is possible theoretically that this farmer stumbled across an unfolding plot and alerted the authorities.”
He added: “There’s a third possibility, which is that the authorities had some fragmentary intelligence that there was a threat... but they just didn't know precisely where it was going to come from.”
US President Donald Trump has claimed the suspects had been under surveillance for some time, saying they were looking to do “big damage”. But police have said the operation followed a call about suspicious vehicles.
Mr Hall said the uncertainty illustrated the difficulty of separating genuine intelligence from the huge amount of material circulating online.
Recruitment via Telegram
He warned that hostile states can exploit that environment to find people willing to carry out attacks.
He explained: “One way that the Russians and the Iranians have used, for example, is to use Telegram channels to just advertise and say to anyone, ‘Do you fancy a gig?’ — and they’ll do it for several thousand pounds.”
“That’s really hard to deal with, even if you had all the legislation in the world,” he warned, because there could be “a potentially very big set of people who might be greedy and disloyal enough to take some money and do something like this”.
Mr Hall said the internet had transformed the way hostile states could recruit agents.
He said: “It’s quite hard to think of what law—apart from sort of cutting off the internet—would actually deal with that.”
“Instantaneous international communications, often anonymous as well, and encrypted. All the elements of a perfect tasking environment exist.”
International cooperation and next steps
The warning comes as investigators face a huge amount of evidence following Sunday's arrests, including material recovered from the vehicles and digital devices. The international dimension could also prove crucial.
Mr Hall said counter-terrorism investigations routinely involve close co-operation between allies, adding: “The UK and US have a very, very trusting and very close relationship, where a huge amount of intelligence is going to be shared.”
He said the presence of US interests at Fairford should not be “much of an impediment” to the investigation.
But he warned that the public may have to wait for answers while investigators establish exactly what happened.
He said: “At the end of the day, I think the priority has got to be protecting national security.”
“If you need to keep information safe in order to protect national security, you should keep the information safe.”
The five suspects remain in custody as the investigation continues. Police have urged the public not to speculate while officers establish the full circumstances of the incident.
