Mystery over UK airbase scare as police find petrol, not explosives

News - South China Morning Post · Sep 29, 2026

A UK probe into a suspected bomb plot at an airbase used by the US was mired in confusion Tuesday, as police said no explosives but a “quantity of petrol” was found in vehicles seized nearby. Police were called to the Royal Air Force Fairford base in southwest England on Sunday after a resident saw several vans “acting suspiciously”, triggering an evacuation of the nearby village and the declaration of a “major incident”. “Those vehicles have been subject to extensive examination … and we can...