A lady who alerted authorities to suspicious activities around RAF Fairford and UK authorities appear to be at loggerheads following the arrest of five men near the military airbase.
Five men were arrested in the early hours of Sunday after three suspicious white vans were spotted around the RAF Fairford area in Gloucestershire.
RAF Fairford is a British military airbase which also hosts US forces and has been used by the American military for operations involving Iran.
Following the arrests, the five men were held on suspicion of offences under the Explosives Act and later on suspicion of preparation of a terrorist act, with the UK’s counter-terrorism police leading the investigation.
Investigators are also examining whether individuals acting on behalf of a foreign state could have been involved. A possible Iran-linked motive has been reported as one line of inquiry, although authorities have not established any Iranian involvement.
However, a local farmer said she was the person who first spotted a group of hooded and masked men behaving suspiciously around the area.
According to the lady, she was in her car when she noticed the men and the unusual vehicles and phoned the authorities to alert them.
She subsequently questioned how she was able to detect the suspicious activities while the security apparatus around the military base apparently did not, despite heightened security concerns around RAF Fairford.
However, UK authorities responded that the lady only had a “partial picture” of what had happened.
The response appeared to further annoy the lady, who maintained that she was the person in her car who spotted the suspicious men and alerted the authorities.
She questioned how authorities could say she did not have the full picture when she was the person who saw the men and made the emergency call that brought police to the area.
Meanwhile, police have said the five arrested men will be released on stringent police bail while investigations continue.
Authorities stressed that their release does not mean the investigation has ended, with counter-terrorism officers continuing to examine multiple lines of inquiry, including whether a foreign state could have been involved.