Counter terror police investigate possible Iran link to Fairford RAF bomb plot, thread 2

[Shudacudawuda]

So it appears this incident was terror related after all.

Quite a few of us on the first thread were sneered at for not accepting the suggestion that it was just thieves stealing fuel. Lots on that thread who had NO DOUBT that if the incident was terror related, there was no way the police would have bailed them.

But what do you know, it looks like the authorities did cock up after all.

I think all this speculation is pointless at best and irresponsible at worst. Why not just let the police do their jobs?

I think @Neverstopwondering might be thinking along the right lines and the 5 out on bail didn't understand what was behind it all (if it was terrorism-related).Otherwise they wouldn't be out on bail.

But we'll find out soon enough. I remember all the utterly insane speculation about the arson attacks by the Ukrainian men, so hope this thread doesn't go the same way.

If it turns out to be a terrorist attack that never happened then the main mistake made by whoever recruited these guys was to recruit from London. If they had recruited from one of the B places or somewhere like Manchester or Luton they would have been less likely to have anyone back out. The radicalisation is stronger in those places. In London these guys are more wishy washy about their beliefs and politics even if they don't admit it in public. That is why any large scale protests in London require bus loads of people from the B places and other cities.

The man with dual Iranian UK nationality is now out on bail.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c6d095ygggv1o

Does anybody know what country the suspect is from? I need to find out so I can quickly Google all the atrocities that Britain has commited there in the past and use it to come up with a reason for why its our fault this happened in the first place.

Which suspect Debs? There are five I think. As you can see one is an Iranian UK dual national. The rest are British nationals.

Have fun googling.

I honestly thought it was fuel thieves

The main reason was them being released so soon. I could not imagine why the police would have released them the next day.

They said they found lots of barrels some containing petrol. There was also the petrol sign logo on the side.

The whole story is very bizarre

What about these two?
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/oct/08/two-latvian-men-arrested-raf-molesworth-cambridgeshire-us-nato

These guys actually got into the base.
We need to top up security and keep eyes much more peeled.
We had very close near misses and in a veey short timeframe.

No shit Sherlock. They are not going to release that are they!

Joint Statement from Foreign Ministers regarding RAF Fairford and Iran State Threats.

The Foreign Ministers of Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States condemn in the strongest terms Iran’s use of violent attacks, including the acts of lethal plotting, arson, sabotage, cyber-attacks, and other hybrid activities against us and our partners.

We recognise the United Kingdom’s attribution of Iran’s involvement in the incident at RAF Fairford on 27 September. The UK has also concluded this event demonstrates the IRGC’s continued willingness to project hostile activity beyond its borders through covert networks and proxy actors.

This comes soon after the recent campaign of attacks across Europe targeting Jewish communities, Iranian journalists, and U.S. interests, claimed by Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya (HAYI).

Any attempt by Iran to threaten, silence, intimidate, harass, harm, or coerce people on our territories through proxies or any other means is unacceptable. Anyone who conducts hostile activities on behalf of Iran, or any other state, should know that we will take action to identify, investigate, disrupt, and prosecute these acts. Iran should be in no doubt that we are united and remain committed to safeguarding our sovereignty and strengthening our international coordination, bolstering our national resilience, protecting our communities, and ensuring that those responsible are held to account.

www.gov.uk/government/news/joint-statement-on-iran-12-october

Oh wow

That puts pay to the whole but it was fuel theft theory then

So why did they release them?

I know it's the counter terrorism police but why release them so soon?

Something fishy is going on

We haven't been told why they were released or what really is going on.

Addressing parliament on Monday about events at RAF Fairford, Burnham said: “I can confirm our assessment that it is highly likely to have been coordinated in Iran, almost certainly directed by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards.”

However, despite his statement, it remains unclear what the authorities think happened at Fairford. Some experts have speculated it was a “feint” to demonstrate that Iran could in theory attack a relatively open site.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/oct/12/iran-revolutionary-guards-irgc-raf-fairford-threats

Because its the law - they can't just detain them

I know about the law. We also have detention under terrorism laws.
Forgive me,but if these people were found in those circumstances near a major RAF Base and it's now been revealed there are links to Iran, why weren't they detained for further investigation

• Initial Detention: A suspect arrested under terrorism powers can be held without charge for up to 48 hours after arrest.
• Warrant of Further Detention: If the police need more time to investigate, they can apply to a court for a warrant of further detention, which allows continued detention beyond the initial 48 hours.
• Maximum Detention: The total maximum detention without charge is 14 days. This limit reflects adjustments made over time, with previous versions of the law allowing detention for up to 28 days.

I hope the police have their reasons but you should have seen how the right wing media and the right wing US press reacted to their release under bail

And I can see their point

The initial report given by the police at the time was that the arrests weren't terror related - so at the time, there was nothing making these offences terror related either.

Therefore, the males just go under normal PACE procedures & bail

And I don't think we should be using the right wing press in the US as a yard stick.

Really

RAF Fairford Incident Update: 28 September 2026 16:00PM

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.

Man bailed in RAF Fairford investigation | Counter Terrorism Policing

A man arrested on Tuesday 6 October, as part of the Counter Terrorism Policing investigation into activity at RAF Fairford on Sunday 27 September, has been released on police bail.
The 22-year-old man, a British National, was arrested in the Borough of Westminster on suspicion of preparation of terrorist acts under Section 5 of the Terrorism Act 2006.
He has now been released from police custody under strict bail conditions

When the UK released those people on bail, the right wing US press was not impressed. Nor was Trump. And like it or not, we need a good relationship with them

This incident doesn't make much sense. On one hand the suspects were very quickly released on bail but yet the government keeps making noises about espionage, Iran terror cells etc and the US has swiftly removed their aircraft from the base. Which one is it, because you simply don't go releasing suspects on bail for such serious accusations as the noise the government is making.

I think it’s just possible that the authorities are choosing not to share all the information with people on the internet because it’s highly confidential & politically sensitive. Nevertheless, it seems to have been determined by our Prime Minister and others in authority that this incident is linked to Iranian terrorism.

I have no doubt there is much more going on that we aren't being told.

It's a really confusing story, especially with the early release of people initially arrested on terrorism charges.

My own theory about that which I think I have given on hear before is the men originally arrested didn't actually know what it was they were getting involved in. Hence why one of them apparently rung the police himself

I could be very wrong but everything points to they were recruited by an Iranian operative but thought it was to stage some sort of protest outside or inside the base. However once they realised it was a full on territory attack they panicked and one of them rung the police on themselves.

That’s where I’m at @Neverstopwondering. They probably gave up all the information they had when they were arrested.

I'd have wanted to be held so the Iranians didn't throw me out of a window

Maybe they’re under protection. After all they could be a valuable intelligence asset.

Yep

That would actually be something against this theory but we don't know if these guys now have protection of some kind. Hopefully more information will come out at some point because an interesting puzzle at the moment.