Half past one in the morning. An empty lane. Three abandoned vans. And then, masked men breaking from the shadows. One farmer’s 999 call may have stopped an attack on RAF Fairford before it began.
It was 1.30am on a country lane in Gloucestershire, and a farmer driving home from a party found her route blocked. Three white vans sat abandoned across the road, with nobody in sight. As she turned the car around, men in balaclavas broke from the scene and scattered, some into the fields, others through the trees towards RAF Fairford, an air base a few hundred metres away that the US uses to strike Iranian missile sites.
She did not stop. She drove off, called 999, and warned her neighbours on WhatsApp to lock their doors. Less than 25 minutes later, five men were sitting handcuffed in the road, surrounded by counter-terror police. By 8am, police had declared a major incident, 85 homes had been evacuated, and army bomb disposal teams were examining the vans behind a 400-metre cordon.
By Sunday evening the story had reached the top of government. Prime Minister Andy Burnham was being kept updated, US President Donald Trump was commenting on the arrests, and counter-terrorism police were asking whether Iran was behind a suspected attack on a base that sits at the centre of the war.
‘I AM QUITE LUCKY’: THE FARMER’S ACCOUNT
Speaking to The Telegraph, the farmer, who has not been named for her own safety, said she has since thought about what could have happened had the men tried to stop her car.
She told the paper it was “pretty incredible” to have had a brush with potential terrorists face to face. She said the vans looked wrong from the first moment, and that the air base had been under a credible terror threat before that night.
One van carried the name “FUEL 2YOU” in red lettering with a Sheffield phone number. The Telegraph reported that the number was one digit short and did not connect when reporters called it, and that the company name returns no results on Google or Companies House. The real fuel delivery firm, Fuel2U, has said its name was used without its knowledge or permission and that it is helping the authorities.
WHAT HAVE POLICE SAID?
Five men were arrested first under explosives law and then on suspicion of preparing a terrorist act, under section 5 of the Terrorism Act 2000. That allows police to hold them for up to 14 days without charge.
Vicki Evans, the senior national co-ordinator for Counter Terrorism Policing, said the inquiry is at an early stage with five men in custody. She said police are working closely with partners to understand what happened.
Police have not released the men’s nationalities or set out their lines of inquiry. A source familiar with the investigation told Reuters that an Iran-linked motive is seen as the most likely, while a Russian sabotage plot and an Islamist plot are also being examined.
DID THE US KNOW ABOUT THE PLOT?
Trump told reporters the men were “looking to do big damage” and that the US had them “under view for a long time,” calling the arrests “an amazing job”.
That account is not matched by Whitehall. Sources told The Telegraph the arrests were not a planned operation and were not intelligence-led. Gloucestershire Police said it only learned the men were in the village of Whelford because of the farmer’s 999 call.
WHY IS RAF FAIRFORD A TARGET?
RAF Fairford is a forward operating base for US forces in Europe. The UK government has allowed US bombers there to carry out strikes on Iranian missile sites that have been hitting ships in the Strait of Hormuz.
In July, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards warned Britain not to let US bombers fly from Fairford, saying any base used to launch attacks would be a legitimate target. Britain replied that its armed forces were ready to protect the country.
Local councillor Tristan Wilkinson told Reuters there was a specific threat from Iranians against the base about six weeks ago, and that surveillance in the area was increased at the time.
‘THE REAL THING’: WHAT EXPERTS SAY ABOUT THE VANS
Former Army bomb disposal officer Lucy Lewis told The Telegraph the scene had the hallmarks of a large attack. “It’s the real thing,” she said, pointing to black barrels seen beside the vans and saying such loads are often fertiliser-based.
Dr Antonio Giustozzi of the Royal United Services Institute said the set-up looked like a multi-vehicle suicide attack, with one vehicle used to break through each ring of security. He said the attackers would have been unlikely to reach US jets given the base’s defences.
WHAT HAS CHANGED ON THE GROUND?
Armed police blocked the base on Sunday morning and large machinery stopped access. Locals said security had been raised in recent days, with heavy vehicles placed across the gates and civilian staff sent home on Friday.
Reuters witnesses said security was also stepped up at other bases used by the US, with armoured vehicles and soldiers at the gates of RAF Lakenheath and RAF Mildenhall in eastern England. A US Air Force spokesperson declined to discuss specific protection measures but said US and UK-based units remain vigilant.
HOW DID POLITICIANS REACT?
Burnham said on X that the incident would be “deeply concerning” for local residents and thanked the police and armed forces. Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said the public deserves to be told the truth about the suspects’ identities.
A 400-metre cordon remained around the vans on Sunday evening, and residents of the evacuated homes, many of whom were moved to a leisure centre in Cirencester, were waiting to return. Gloucestershire Police thanked them for their patience.
Police have yet to say who the men are or what the vans carried. The five remain in custody.
