Counter Terrorism Policing is considering whether the incident close to RAF Fairford at the weekend was the work of proxies or of people knowingly or unknowingly acting for a foreign state, the head of the national organisation has said, while confirming that the five men arrested have been released on police bail.
Assistant Commissioner Laurence Taylor, head of National Counter Terrorism Policing, set out the sequence of events in a statement. “In the early hours of Sunday morning, colleagues at Gloucestershire Police received a report of suspicious vehicles in the vicinity of RAF Fairford,” he said. “As a result of that information, armed officers responded, and arrested five men on suspicion of offences under the Explosives Act and later, preparation of a terrorist act under Section 5 of the Terrorism Act.”
The men had been travelling in three vehicles, which were examined overnight with the support of military assets and forensic experts. Significant resources remain at the scene and a cordon is still in place, though Taylor said officers hoped to reduce it and return residents to their homes.
On the arrests themselves, he said: “I can confirm that following extensive interviews and enquiries, the five men who were arrested are being released on police bail this afternoon. To be very clear, this does not mean the investigation is over. They are subject to stringent conditions on their movement and contact with others. They absolutely remain under investigation as we explore multiple lines of enquiry.”
Turning to the international situation of his own accord, the assistant commissioner said the force was keeping an open mind. “I know there is significant interest in whether the current geopolitical context has a bearing on this incident,” he said. “At Counter Terrorism Policing we are working within this context every day, and at this stage we are keeping an open mind in this investigation. We have, as you would expect, ensured that our protective security advice and posture remain commensurate to the threat. But be assured, we are considering this from every possible angle. Including, that this may be activity committed by proxies, or individuals either knowingly or unknowingly, working on behalf of a foreign state.”
That formulation describes a pattern British police and the Security Service have warned about with increasing frequency, in which hostile states recruit criminals or opportunists through intermediaries to carry out reconnaissance, arson or sabotage without any direct connection back to the sponsor. Taylor came back to that theme later in his statement, having raised it on previous occasions. “I have spoken before about the increasing breadth and complexity of the threats we are facing,” he said. “Often this threat becomes visible to us as criminal activity, often at a small scale and committed by individuals whose primary aim is not terrorism but a quick financial gain. It can be harder to spot, and to that end I would ask the public to remain vigilant and report anything suspicious to police.”
He went on to address the speculation about what had been known beforehand, without saying what that was. “I am also very conscious that there is a great deal of speculation about what may or may not have been known previously about potential threats or activity,” he said. “As I hope the public understand, I will not always be able to share this type of information. What I do ask is that the public understand that we work hand in glove with MI5 to keep them safe from a myriad of threats and do everything we can to protect them.”
Taylor also explained the scale of the response, saying that rapid mobilisation is necessary because the risk cannot be carried while the threat is being assessed, and that once it is better understood the aim is to return communities to normality as quickly as possible. He thanked residents for their patience, describing the incident as hugely disruptive for the people who live in the area and for the base.
