Head of National Counter Terrorism Policing in the UK, Assistant Commissioner Laurence Taylor, has provided an update this afternoon (Monday, 28 September) on the ongoing investigation into the incident at RAF Fairford. He said:
In the early hours of Sunday morning, colleagues at Gloucestershire Police received a report of suspicious vehicles in the vicinity of RAF Fairford.
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. Overnight, those vehicles have been subject to extensive examination, with the support of military assets and forensic experts.
We still have significant resources deployed at the scene, and a cordon remains in place whilst investigators continue their work. However, we are hopeful to reduce this later today and get residents back to their homes. We will provide further updates on this in due course.
I know, for the people who call this area, and RAF Fairford, home, this has been a hugely disruptive incident. Thank you for your support and patience.
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.
I know there is significant interest in whether the current geopolitical context has a bearing on this incident.
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.
To respond to incidents such as these, rapid mobilisation is necessary as we cannot take the risk whilst assessing the threat. However, once we understand the threat more clearly, we seek to return affected communities to normality as quickly as possible.
I have spoken before about the increasing breadth and complexity of the threats we are facing.
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.
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.
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.
Incidents such as this are a reminder of the importance of public vigilance, if you spot something that doesn’t feel right let us know.
Thank you.