Five men from London have been released on bail by police investigating a suspected terror plot at RAF Fairford, a Cotswolds airbase used by US forces. The British nationals were arrested in the early hours of Sunday morning after suspicious activity was reported near the base.
Arrests and bail
Armed police swooped on the men after being alerted by residents living near RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire. The men were arrested on suspicion of explosives offences and terrorism after three vans were found close to the airbase, which has been used by the US military to carry out strikes against Iran.
Assistant Commissioner Laurence Taylor, the head of UK Counter Terrorism Policing, said the men were released on bail under “stringent conditions” on Monday. Mr Taylor added that the males “absolutely remain under investigation as we explore multiple lines of inquiry”. It is understood that the material found at the scene of the arrests was not viable explosives.
How events unfolded
February 28, 2026 – The US and Israel start attacking Iran as the conflict in the Middle East widens. March 1 – Sir Keir Starmer, then British prime minister, announces that the UK had agreed to a US request to use RAF Fairford, the country’s largest airbase, to launch defensive strikes on Iran. July 23 – Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps says UK airbases being used by the US are “legitimate targets”.
September 1-25 – Locals living in the villages surrounding RAF Fairford reportedly notice increased security around the military site. Heavy machinery and concrete bollards are said to have been placed at gated entrances to the airbase. Plain-clothed police are spotted in the area. September 26 – A person walking their dog early on Saturday evening in the vicinity of the airbase is stopped by armed police and told to return home, they later tell the BBC.
The incident and investigation
September 27 – At 12.45am, Gloucestershire Police receives the first report of three suspicious white vans travelling towards RAF Fairford. At 1am, a farmer from Whelford, a village near RAF Fairford, is driving home from a party along quiet rural roads when she comes across three vans blocking the path to her farm. Turning around, she later reports seeing “a large group of hooded and masked men” at a nearby junction before they quickly disperse.
At 1.36am, after a failed attempt to contact the Ministry of Defence police, the anonymous farmer phones 999 to alert Gloucestershire Police. She is said to post in the local residents’ WhatsApp group that "something very odd is going on in the village". At 1.46am, armed officers, backed up by a police helicopter, surround the vans, arresting five men only 300m from the base’s perimeter. They are detained under the Explosives Act.
In the morning, Gloucestershire Police declares a major incident. A 400m security cordon is established around the vans and Army bomb disposal units are deployed. Before midday, more than 80 households in Whelford are evacuated. At 2.45pm, counter terrorism policing announces that they are leading the investigation. The five men are also arrested on suspicion of preparing a terrorist act.
Reactions and aftermath
US President Donald Trump says suspects had been “under view for a long time”, claiming they had been looking to cause "big damage" to the US-operated facility. September 28 – On Monday at 1.22pm, in a statement on X (formerly Twitter), Iran’s London embassy says it “categorically rejects” what it calls “malicious speculation” about the country’s involvement in Sunday’s events in the Cotswolds.
At 4pm, police announce that the five men arrested over the RAF Fairford incident will be released on bail. The five suspects are a 24-year-old from Camden, north London, three men aged 23, 24 and 25 from Westminster, central London, and one aged 24 from Willesden, north-west London. Police say they are keeping an open mind about foreign interference, saying one possibility could be proxies “either knowingly or unknowingly working on behalf of a foreign state”.
September 27 – At 7pm, an emergency Cobra meeting into the security incident at RAF Fairford wraps-up. September 28 – At 7.30pm, evacuated residents in Whelford are permitted to return to their homes. Trump says he is “surprised” five suspects were released on bail. In comments in the Oval Office, he praises UK police but adds: “I will tell you, I would have said ‘Don’t let them have bail’.” September 29 – At 4am on Tuesday morning, US secretary of state Marco Rubio says the “hand of a foreign actor” appeared to have been at play on Sunday but claims he is limited in what more he can say. At 7am, police cordon remains in place around three vehicles at RAF Fairford.
