Claims made by Donald Trump about the alleged plot to attack RAF Fairford have been rejected by a senior BBC security expert.
In the early hours of Sunday morning, Counter Terrorism Police were called to a site near the RAF Fairford base in Gloucestershire. This followed a report from a local farmer, who reported seeing three suspicious vans speeding towards the airbase – which is used extensively by US forces.
It is understood they were deliberately targeting the military location. Five men were arrested under the Explosives Act and on suspicion of preparing a terrorist act and under current anti-terror laws.
Speaking to the BBC, the farmer who called the police said: “It shouldn’t be necessary for someone like me to alert RAF Fairford of the presence of three large suspicious vehicles and a group of masked men.”
But when US president Donald Trump was asked on Sunday night about the incident, he claimed American and British authorities had the individuals “under investigation.”
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Trump said: “They were looking to do big damage to our fort, and working with the British worked out great.
“It may have been Scotland Yard, I don’t know. We worked with a lot of them.
“We had them under view for a long time, and we got them. It was fantastic. Working with Britain, it was an amazing job.”
The seeming contradiction in stories was noted by BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner.
He told Radio 4’s Today programme there was a “clear inconsistency” between Trump’s claims and what appears to have actually happened, based on the farmer’s comments and what he had heard from sources in Whitehall.
Gardner said: “I would give a lot more credence to what we’ve heard from the eyewitness, from the farmer.
“From people I’ve spoken to yesterday in Whitehall, I’ve been told this was not an intelligence-led operation.
“Counter-terrorism police are leading the investigation, Gloucestershire police are leading the response, but there’s no indication that this was a plot where the US and UK were working hand in hand tracking these people. If they were, this wouldn’t have happened.
“So I don’t understand why Donald Trump is saying we had these people under view for a long time. I don’t know where he got that from, because if they did then how on earth were they allowed to wander round Gloucestershire putting on masks and driving vans allegedly with explosives in them?”
Some have speculated that the suspects in the incident may have links to Iran, given that Fairford has been used by America to launch air raids on the country since the war began earlier this year.
However, Gardner said these suggestions do not “make a lot of sense politically” given the regime in Tehran wants to end the war in their country.
On Sunday morning, defence secretary Wes Streeting said the farmer who alerted police had a “partial picture” of what’s been happening.
“I won’t go beyond that, in terms of commenting on operational security matters,” he told the BBC.
Streeting explained that he could not divulge further information as it was important to protect the integrity of the police and security services.