RAF Fairford suspects are all British men in their 20s, counter-terror police say

September 28, 2026

2

Summary

Five men arrested on suspicion of terror offences near RAF Fairford on Sunday morning are UK nationals in their 20s who live in London, police say
They were arrested under the Explosives Act and on suspicion of preparing a terrorist act – BBC Verify has looked at the “company” vans seen nearby
Counter Terrorism Policing Senior National Coordinator Vicki Evans says she is “very aware of the levels of speculation about the motivation behind this incident, and the geopolitical questions that are being raised”
Earlier, a farmer who called 999 when she saw “a large group of hooded and masked men” said she “foiled” their plans – here’s the WhatsApp she sent her neighbours at 01:49 on Sunday
But Defence Secretary Wes Streeting said the farmer only had a “partial picture”, while declining to speculate on possible Iranian links
The RAF base is used by the US military. President Trump said the US had the five men “under view for a long time, and we got them”
One person who lives near the base tells us that local people were sent home by armed police just hours before the suspects were arrested – others say security had been ramped up

Farage says UK ‘needs to take national security more seriously’

Glenn Campbell
BBC Scotland Political Editor

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has accused the government of “weakness” on national security following the incident at RAF Fairford.

Farage has acknowledged that security forces have been on the case for some time because they have been “fearful” of an attack.

But he tells the BBC that the underlying problem is that “we have allowed into Britain cells of people who intend to do us harm”.

He says we must take national security far more seriously.

Fairford suspects from different parts of London

Counter Terrorism Police have been giving more details about the five men arrested near RAF Fairford on Sunday morning.

The five are all UK nationals and they are being held under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act (Pace), police say.

They are a 24-year-old from Camden, north London, three men aged 23, 24 and 25 from Westminster, and one aged 24 from Willesden, north-west London.

Locals report security warnings before arrests

Villagers have been speaking to the BBC about what was happening around RAF Fairford in the days leading up to the arrests on Sunday.

Here’s a reminder of what they said:

On Friday morning at about 05:30 BST, one villager reported seeing a man wearing a backpack jumping out of some bushes near the airbase
The next day at about 17:00 BST another villager out walking their dog said they were told by armed police to return home and stay indoors
A third resident said some local people were told to go home by armed police just hours before the suspects were arrested

Although Whitehall sources have told the BBC the operation at RAF Fairford was not “intelligence-led”, these accounts from local residents suggest that authorities might have been anticipating something happening at the base before Sunday’s arrests.

Mapping key moments in RAF Fairford incident

By Benedict Garman and Charlotte Green

After a major incident near RAF Fairford was declared by police on Sunday, BBC Verify began geolocating images and videos from the scene, mapping key locations to help understand what was happening and where.

We first plotted where police had put roadblocks in place on three routes leading into the village of Whelford. This helped us narrow down where the main areas of police activity were focused.

Annotated satellite map titled “Key areas of activity in RAF Fairford investigation.” The map shows RAF Fairford and the nearby village of Whelford in Gloucestershire, with a yellow dashed circle marking a 400-metre evacuation cordon around part of the village and base perimeter. Yellow-highlighted roads through Whelford are labelled as closed. Callouts identify key locations within the cordon: a bomb disposal robot investigating three suspicious vans in Whelford; bomb disposal vehicles parked nearby; and a location on a road near the base entrance where five men were pictured, marked by a red dot and red label. Another annotation marks “Crash Gate 6A runway access” on the southern edge of the base. An inset map of the UK highlights the location of RAF Fairford in south-west England. Scale shown as 100 metres/500 feet. Source: BBC Verify research.

The police said a 400m cordon had been put in place around three suspicious vehicles – which matched the position of the roadblocks.

We also verified a photo showing five men sitting in the road who had apparently been detained by police.

A hedge, signpost and telephone box cross-referenced against Google Street View placed them in a road about 350m from one of the runway access gates at RAF Fairford.

Another image showed two bomb disposal lorries which we matched to a spot roughly 300m away from the runway gate. Street View also helped place the location of a security camera image showing the three white vans.

Later, live helicopter video from the scene revealed where the bomb disposal teams were operating.

Graphic by Tom Shiel