A dual British-Iranian national has been arrested in connection with the Sunday incident in which five men were arrested on terrorism charges in an alleged plot against the UK's RAF Fairford airbase.
The 27-year-old man was arrested in central London. “The investigation into circumstances surrounding events in Gloucestershire is hugely complex, and our specialist teams are interrogating multiple lines of enquiry,” Vicki Evans, a senior coordinator for Counter Terrorism Policing, said.
"As we’ve made clear, we’re looking at all possible angles—including possible foreign state involvement,” she added.
The arrest comes just days after police arrested five men that were in white vans by the air base that is also used on a day-to-day basis by the United States of America. Despite being arrested on suspicions of terrorism, the five men have been released on bail by the UK. Authorities discovered that there were no explosives in the vans, but found a large quanitity of gasoline, per the AP. The suspects had been detained under the Explosives Act and the Preparation of Terrorism Act.
Officials believe that Iran had something to do with the events that took place, but the regime has denied the accusations. Iran's foreign minister Abbas Araghchi wrote in a post to social media, "PM Burnham says the UK Government 'can confirm our belief that we believe Iran to have played a part' in the RAF Fairford incident. I can confirm Iran's belief that releasing supposed terrorists working for foreign states really says it all."
The five suspects were in their 20s and were seen by a local farmer driving home from a party. The farmer said of the incident, “I just thought what the h*ll are they doing… I saw a group of Middle Eastern-looking young guys running off through the trees. Some of them had masks or balaclavas on, and they all scattered ahead of us as we drove back past.”
The 27-year-old man was arrested in central London. “The investigation into circumstances surrounding events in Gloucestershire is hugely complex, and our specialist teams are interrogating multiple lines of enquiry,” Vicki Evans, a senior coordinator for Counter Terrorism Policing, said.
"As we’ve made clear, we’re looking at all possible angles—including possible foreign state involvement,” she added.
The arrest comes just days after police arrested five men that were in white vans by the air base that is also used on a day-to-day basis by the United States of America. Despite being arrested on suspicions of terrorism, the five men have been released on bail by the UK. Authorities discovered that there were no explosives in the vans, but found a large quanitity of gasoline, per the AP. The suspects had been detained under the Explosives Act and the Preparation of Terrorism Act.
Officials believe that Iran had something to do with the events that took place, but the regime has denied the accusations. Iran's foreign minister Abbas Araghchi wrote in a post to social media, "PM Burnham says the UK Government 'can confirm our belief that we believe Iran to have played a part' in the RAF Fairford incident. I can confirm Iran's belief that releasing supposed terrorists working for foreign states really says it all."
The five suspects were in their 20s and were seen by a local farmer driving home from a party. The farmer said of the incident, “I just thought what the h*ll are they doing… I saw a group of Middle Eastern-looking young guys running off through the trees. Some of them had masks or balaclavas on, and they all scattered ahead of us as we drove back past.”
