I like the way these stories say UK nationals, but digging deeper it’s pretty clear where the loyalty lies.
ETA: The last comment was driven by a similar article on a local site, where an adjacent farmer was interviewed, having been the first to see the vans and men running off into the trees, some with balaclavas (alleged). She made the statement that they looked ME. But similarly, the local article also made the point that they were UK nationals. Personally I don’t consider such people to be true ‘domestic terrorists’.
Released on police bail. Which as I understand it means they have not been charged.
There is already quite a lot of speculation over here (UK) that they were in fact stealing diesel in oil drums, which would be consistent with police bail. Wrong time, wrong place.
Diesel is currently £2.00 per litre here, which is more expensive than it has ever been. So there would be method to their madness, and I doubt they are the only diesel thieves in the UK at the moment, if indeed that is what they were up to.
I suppose it is possible that these muppets were known and being watched by the intelligence services, and were out on the rob for some oil or diesel to raise money to buy something more dangerous. It strikes me as an odd MO, especially one implemented next to a major US air base. OTOH if you’re a wannabe terrorist maybe you don’t have a 9-5 and put money into a saving account earmarked for bomb making supplies. Who knows?
What I do know is that if they were suspected of terrorist offence the police could hold them without charge for 14 days while they continued their investigations. As - I assume - the police now know what’s inside the oil drums that were in the vans, and have granted these muppets bail, my guess is the contents were oil or diesel and not explosives.
A yet further possibility is that the muppets really are part of a cell but were offered up as sacrificial lambs so that the handlers could work out how good British surveillance really is.
Speculating, but the police played the ‘terrorist’ card as that allowed them to hold them for up to 14 days for questioning as opposed to 48 hours before charge or bail.
" The [five] men - all UK nationals in their 20s who live in London (Camden, Westminster and Willesden - were arrested under the Explosives Act" and subsequently " on suspicion of preparing a terrorist act".
If there’s a clear ‘terrorist’ link, there is zero chance they’d have been bailed.
I read that “no explosive devices or materials were found in any of the vans.”
POTUS bandwagoning the arrests as “fantastic” and said the suspects had been “under review for a long time and we got them” - looks extremely likely this is as accurate as many other of his assertions.
After the Iranian statement/threat ‘any base used on the bombing attacks on ‘us’ is fair game’ - Fairford is, I think, the only base in GBR that this could reasonably apply to - the security risk level is/was elevated to #2 (in the 5 level risk table - imminent threat is #1).
They have been bailed which they categorically would not have been if there was a terrorist element. In fact UK terrorism laws allow them to be held much longer just for questioning without needing permission from a judge.
This is much more likely to be conspiracy to steal, conspiracy to commit criminal damage or conspiracy to commit criminal trespass. Possibly a conspiracy to breach a military installation but that is looking unlikely because they wouldn’t have been released.
People protesting against genocide in Palestine have been detained longer.
Homeless in Seattle break into Boeing Field to…. sleep in the parked planes. Yes really. Risking a federal shitstorm response so they can sleep in peace out of the rain and cold. Desperate people are capable of anything and can you blame them? Edit: right they also steal avgas and JP from planes, for their portable generators and cooking stoves.
We know hear that one of the five arrested and then bailed actually phoned 999 (the police) at 0045, well before the farmer reported the vans in Whelford village. Who knows what his communication was: perhaps to report he’d been taken by surprise in one of the vans.
May explain how the local police were able to respond to the ‘farmer’ with such alacrity. 25 minutes to respond to a scenario of multiple vehicles and possibly armed men (if thought to be possible terrrorist) is a stretch target, imho.
Also: “The head of Counter Terrorism Policing said that no improvised explosive devices were found in the three vans discovered near RAF Fairford, but a quantity of petrol (‘gas’ across the pond; btw in UK petrol works out about $10 a US gallon!) was recovered.” I surmise he’s keen to get this off his hands and back to the local plod - if indeed there’s any actual illegal activity involved.
“There are strong indications that Iran played a part in what happened over the weekend at RAF Fairford,”
“played a part” is imho doing some heavy lifting in this share.
Bear in mind the Labour Party conference is/was on so Burnham (the Prime minister) will have buttons he wants to press.
With the heightened state of alert (“SEVERE”) around Fairford, the police had to react to a possible worst case.
Once they’d determined no explosives or anything which could remotely be judged a threat to the base (or the village) were in the vans, the authorities were slow to allow the villagers back into their homes (imho).
The Met Police (or CTP team) have arrested a bloke whom they say has dual British and Iranian citizenship in Westminster (ie central London and where three of the ‘Van 5’ lived/are living on bail) assume under TACT so they have days to question him.