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RAF air base Five arrested on suspicion of preparing terrorist act · THE DAILY BRIEF

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: British police say five men are under arrest after security
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  Speaker 1: incident near an airbase that hosts U.S. service members in
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  Speaker 1: southwest England. A number of homes were evacuated and bomb
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  Speaker 1: disposal experts were dispatched to examine vans near the Fairford
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  Speaker 1: Air Base in Gloucestershire. The suspects are being held on
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  Speaker 1: suspicion of preparing a terrorist act. The airfield is used
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  Speaker 1: by the U.S. Air Force in its ongoing war against Iran.
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  Speaker 1: Tehran has warned that any bases supporting strikes on its
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  Speaker 1: territory would be considered legitimate targets. Journalist Andreas Wolff has
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  Speaker 1: been following developments and joins us now. Andreas, police say
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  Speaker 1: the situation is contained, but they haven't said what was
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  Speaker 1: in those vans or who these men are. So what
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  Speaker 1: do we actually know at this hour and what's still unconfirmed?
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  Speaker 2: Well, Michael, at a quarter to one this morning, local
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  Speaker 2: police were made aware of three suspicious white vans moving
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  Speaker 2: towards RAF Fairfield in Gloucestershire, and armed police responded immediately
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  Speaker 2: and arrested five men, at first under the Explosives Act,
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  Speaker 2: and then not long ago they were further arrested for
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  Speaker 2: suspicion of preparation of a terrorist act. There are aerial
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  Speaker 2: pictures showing bomb disposal robots moving towards these white vans.
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  Speaker 2: And they seemingly have been able to open two of them,
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  Speaker 2: but it would seem that they haven't been able to
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  Speaker 2: open the third one yet to have a look inside.
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  Speaker 2: The five men remain in custody. And we do know
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  Speaker 2: that the whole operation is intelligence-led and not counter-terrorism-led. Apparently,
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  Speaker 2: this means that the authorities were unaware of the activities
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  Speaker 2: of these men before today.
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  Speaker 1: We're showing images of the airbase and, of course, surrounding
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  Speaker 1: homes near that base. Is there still any danger to
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  Speaker 1: people living nearby, as far as you know?
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  Speaker 2: Well, as far as we know, 85 homes in the
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  Speaker 2: area have been evacuated. One resident was describing how they
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  Speaker 2: got a knock on the door very early in the
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  Speaker 2: morning while they were still sound asleep, and they were
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  Speaker 2: all taken to a local leisure centre where they are
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  Speaker 2: apparently not in danger anymore, although some people have since
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  Speaker 2: moved on to stay with family and friends.
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  Speaker 1: Police say the vehicles appear to be heading towards the airbase.
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  Speaker 1: Have investigators established whether Fairford was in fact the intended target?
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  Speaker 2: It would very much seem so, Michael. RAF Fairford is
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  Speaker 2: on UK soil, but it is used almost exclusively by
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  Speaker 2: US military and has been used by long-range bombers in
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  Speaker 2: the current Iran war. Because it has such a long runway,
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  Speaker 2: it's an ideal base. The UK government had allowed the
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  Speaker 2: use of UK bases for defensive actions by the US
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  Speaker 2: in Iran.
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  Speaker 1: You mentioned that there's a long runway there. This might
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  Speaker 1: have something to do why it's important to American military operations.
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  Speaker 1: In fact, is that the case? Why is it so
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  Speaker 1: important to the US?
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  Speaker 2: That, that indeed is, uh, the reason that it's, it's
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  Speaker 2: the most practical, uh, location for, for these attacks. It has, um,
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  Speaker 2: or defensive actions, I should say rather. Um, it has
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  Speaker 2: also been used previously in the Iraq war and also in, uh,
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  Speaker 2: former Yugoslavia. Um, Iran seems to be, uh, the, the
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  Speaker 2: number one suspect here as well because of it. Um, and, uh, um, yeah, and,
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  Speaker 2: Number two being Russia as also a potential perpetrator of
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  Speaker 2: this act. But we'll need to wait and see.
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  Speaker 1: You've made reference to this, and I don't want to
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  Speaker 1: beat a dead horse, but I just want to make
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  Speaker 1: sure we're perfectly clear here. What, if anything, have authorities
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  Speaker 1: disclosed about the suspects or any possible motive?
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  Speaker 2: Nothing at all, but experts in the area have discussed
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  Speaker 2: Iran and Russia as the two main suspects. In terms
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  Speaker 2: of Russia, of course, we remember the attacks in Salisbury
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  Speaker 2: with a Novichok nerve agent, and this was back in 2018. Iran,
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  Speaker 2: for obvious reasons, as the bases used for defensive actions
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  Speaker 2: against Iran. The BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner mentioned hybrid
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  Speaker 2: warfare in this context and also mentioned in particular the
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  Speaker 2: finding of drones with explosives at Leipzig airport in Germany recently.
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  Speaker 2: At this point, local police have, however, asked the public
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  Speaker 2: not to speculate.
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  Speaker 1: Okay. Our thanks to journalist Andreas Wolff. Really appreciate it, Andreas. Thanks, Michael.