Police robot detonates to breach van during RAF Fairford terror investigation

A bomb-disposal robot was deployed to a rural road near RAF Fairford after three white vans were discovered in a suspected terror plot. After the robot failed to open one van’s rear doors, operators placed a small charge that detonated, blowing the doors off and sending a fireball and smoke into the air, as recorded by a nearby homeowner’s camera. Five men, aged 23 to 25 and from London, were arrested, stripped of their clothes over fears they might be wearing suicide vests, and later bailed within 36 hours.

Police later confirmed no IEDs were found, though a quantity of petrol was recovered from the vans. A farmer who first reported the vans said she saw masked men, later identified as armed police. Iranian officials have rejected any link to the plot, while some officials suggest a foreign actor may be involved.