Five Arrested Near RAF Fairford Over Suspected Terror Plot at US-Used Base

British counterterrorism officers are investigating an incident near RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire after five men were taken into custody early Sunday on suspicion of preparing a terrorist act, authorities said.

The arrests followed emergency calls from local residents who reported three suspicious vehicles that appeared to be heading toward the air base, according to a statement from London's Metropolitan Police. Armed officers detained the group, and Counter Terrorism Policing later confirmed it had taken charge of the investigation into the overnight incident near the facility in southwest England.

The case has drawn intense attention because RAF Fairford is not an ordinary British military installation. The base hosts the United States Air Force's 501st Combat Support Wing and is one of a dozen UK sites tied to American military operations. Among its counterparts are RAF Lakenheath, home to the largest US force contingent in Britain, and RAF Mildenhall, which supports refueling and wider global missions.

Fairford's strategic profile has risen sharply during the current conflict involving Iran, as US forces have flown B-1 and B-2 bombers from the base as part of strikes on Iranian targets. In March, then-Prime Minister Keir Starmer authorized what were described as "defensive" US actions against Iranian missile sites launched from two British bases, Fairford among them, along with Diego Garcia in the British Indian Ocean Territory.

According to Gloucestershire police, the first call came in at 00:45 local time on Sunday — 23:45 GMT on Saturday — reporting three vehicles moving in the direction of the base. Aerial broadcast footage later showed a bomb disposal robot operating around the vans, two of which had their rear doors open. Officers said they believed the situation had been "contained" and established a cordon with a radius of roughly 400 meters, or about 1,300 feet.

A woman who dialed the emergency number described the scene to BBC Radio 4 on condition of anonymity. She said she returned to her home in the nearby village of Whelford to find her driveway blocked by what she called a "large group of hooded and masked men." She recounted that when the group noticed her, some fled into a field and others ran toward the neighboring village of Kempsford, prompting her to realize something highly unusual was underway.

The resident said she first tried calling Ministry of Defence police at the airbase but received no answer. After reaching 999 at 01:36 BST, she said armed police flooded the village within about ten minutes. "I am absolutely staggered that it was left to me as a member of the public to see and report this," she told the BBC, adding to questions about how the situation unfolded before officers arrived.

Roughly 85 households in Whelford were advised to evacuate as a precaution, and residents described a climate of heightened tension in the area in recent weeks, marked by frequent police patrols. The evacuation and the visible security response underscored how seriously authorities treated the early-morning reports.

Details about the five detainees remain scarce. Gloucestershire police initially arrested the men on suspicion of offenses under the Explosives Act before they were later rearrested on suspicion of the "preparation of a terrorist act," a shift announced by the Metropolitan Police. The men remain in custody, and police have not disclosed where they are being held.

Maggie Blyth, the temporary chief constable of Gloucestershire police, said she believed the incident was "contained" when asked whether investigators were seeking additional suspects. Her assessment suggested authorities did not currently believe a wider network was at large in connection with the events near the base.

Speaking from the United States, President Donald Trump said the suspects had been "looking to do big damage" at the airbase, adding that they had been under observation "for a long time" and that American and British officials had cooperated on the matter. His remarks implied a level of prior intelligence interest in the men, though officials in Britain have not confirmed that characterization.

Rob Geist Pinfold, an international security lecturer at King's College London, noted that British law shields the identities of suspects unless they are formally charged, leaving key questions unanswered. "We don't know anything about whether they're British nationals, whether they're foreign nationals, for example. And we also don't know what was in those vans," Pinfold told Al Jazeera. He added that Trump's statement suggested the men may have already been under investigation, leaving open whether the episode amounted to a member of the public stumbling onto something inept or a more deliberate, poorly executed plan to strike Fairford.

Whether Iran had any role remains an open question. Tehran has previously threatened to target US military bases involved in attacks on Iran. Since February 28, when the US and Israel first launched strikes on Iran, Iranian forces have targeted multiple military sites across the Gulf and the wider Middle East, including installations in Qatar, Bahrain, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, Oman and the United Arab Emirates. In early March, a loitering munition struck an RAF base in Cyprus, where authorities said Iranian drones aimed at the site were also intercepted — a reminder that British-linked facilities have already been drawn into the conflict's fallout.

In London, Defence Minister Wes Streeting said Sunday that he had been in contact with US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and that Britain was "working closely with our American friends." Asked directly whether Iran was connected to the Fairford arrests, Streeting said it would be "irresponsible to speculate," leaving the question of foreign involvement unresolved as the investigation continues.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham called the incident "deeply concerning" and said his government would take "every step necessary" to protect the public, signaling that security around sensitive US-linked installations would remain a priority. With the suspects still in custody and investigators saying little about motive or origin, the coming days are likely to bring further scrutiny of how the vehicles approached one of Britain's most strategically important air bases — and of who, if anyone, sent them.