Police found petrol but no explosives in vehicles near RAF Fairford

Counter-terrorism police said officers found a quantity of petrol, but no explosive devices, when they searched three vans near RAF Fairford in western England. The vehicles were spotted in the early hours of Sunday, prompting a major security response around the base, which is operated by the US military.

Five men, all British nationals in their 20s, were arrested. Police initially held them on suspicion of explosives offences and later arrested them on suspicion of terrorism offences. The allegations remain under investigation; the arrests do not establish that the men committed any offence.

The men were released on bail the following day. Police described the decision as an investigative judgment, saying it was based on experience and strategy. Their release did not mean the inquiry had ended, and officers continued work at the locations connected with the investigation.

Laurence Taylor, head of Counter Terrorism Policing, said the response on Sunday morning followed consideration of several strands of information. Among them was a call from a member of the public reporting multiple vehicles behaving suspiciously close to the air base.

Taylor said he hoped officers would be able to close the investigative scenes by Wednesday. That timetable concerned the police work at those locations; he did not say that the wider inquiry would necessarily be completed by then.

The incident also drew comment from US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who said it was clear that a foreign actor had been involved. Police provided no further details in the account of the investigation about what evidence underpinned that assessment, or about the identity or role of any alleged foreign participant.

The discovery of petrol, alongside the absence of explosives, leaves investigators examining the circumstances in which the vans were brought near the site and the purpose of the fuel. The police statement did not identify the vehicles’ owners or specify how much petrol was found. RAF Fairford is a military air base in Gloucestershire used by the US military, making the security response significant for both British police and the facility’s operators.