UK security services had prior knowledge of a group of men later arrested on Sunday over an alleged bomb plot targeting an RAF base used by the US military, Defence Secretary Wes Streeting has suggested.
The RAF Fairford is a US-operated air force base in England which the US uses for its operations in West Asia, including striking Iran. However, UK’s investigators have not yet found whether the incident was linked any other other state country. During the wee hours of Sunday, a woman driving near the base spotted the three suspicious vehicles and alerted the police at around 12.45 am.
They are probing possible links to Russia, Iran, and even non-state-backed militant groups, according to a report by Associated Press. However, she told BBC on Monday that it seemed like the security services had “really dropped the ball on this”. All the men who were arrested are British nationals from London and are in their 20s, according to the UK Police.
On Sunday, the UK police arrested five men on terrorism charges after three vans were spotted near RAF Fairford with explosives.
We had them under view for a long time, and we got them,” Trump told reporters on Sunday. “We had them under investigation. They were looking to do big damage to our fort and working with the British worked out great …
