U.K. authorities arrested two Latvian men after they were discovered early Thursday inside the perimeter of an RAF base that houses U.S. and NATO intelligence operations, counterterrorism police said.
Thursday. They were later arrested on charges of entering a prohibited place for a purpose prejudicial to the U.K. Officers from the Ministry of Defence Police and Cambridgeshire Constabulary began investigating the incident at about 10 p.m. Police later found a small hole in the perimeter fence, and the suspects, both U.K. residents, were arrested at about 2 a.m. The men, ages 32 and 36, were initially arrested on suspicion of trespass on a prohibited site and criminal damage.
Because of the nature of the offense, the matter is being investigated by counterterrorism police.
Wednesday after an abandoned vehicle was found near the edge of the base, Counter Terrorism Policing London said in a statement. “Our investigation into this incident is at its very early stages,” Flanagan said. “A big part of this is looking at any potential motivation as to why the men were present at the site, but I must stress we are keeping an open mind at this stage and inquiries are very much ongoing.”
On September 27, authorities discovered three suspicious vans near RAF Fairford, a British air base from which U.S. bombers have launched strikes against Iran, triggering a widespread investigation that has led to seven arrests. On Thursday, a serving member of the Royal Navy appeared in court on charges that he attempted to send sensitive information to Russia between November 2024 and May 2025. The U.S. Air Force withdrew all of its bombers from the base last weekend.
