Incident near Fairford base: suspect released on bail

A man with dual British-Iranian nationality, arrested in the investigation into the incident which occurred on Sunday near the Fairford military base in the southwest of England, has been released on bail, British counter-terrorism police announced on Saturday. This 25-year-old man was arrested on Thursday in central London on suspicion of “preparing terrorist acts”.

“The searches carried out at two properties in the same area are now complete,” police said in a statement. The investigation into the incident near the Fairford base, used by the United States in its war against Iran, “continues,” she added. This man was the sixth person arrested in this investigation with multiple gray areas, after the arrest of five Britons aged 23 to 25 at the scene of the incident on Sunday. These five men were released on bail on Monday.

On Wednesday, British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said there were “strong indications” of Iranian involvement in the incident. The police did not mention it in their press release on Thursday, with the counter-terrorism coordinator, Vicki Evans, recalling that the investigation was “immensely complex” and that the investigations followed “all possible angles, including that of the role of a foreign state”.

Iran had “categorically” denied on Monday any link with this affair. During the night from Saturday to Sunday, the police intervened near the Fairford base, after a call made to the emergency services reporting “three suspicious vehicles”. Inside the vehicles, police said they found “no explosive device,” but gasoline “in quantity.” The Fairford base has been used since March by the United States in its war against Iran for “defensive operations”.