Farmer who 'foiled RAF terror attack' shares 'the worst thing' they saw
A farmer who called the police and foiled a suspected terror plot near RAF Fairford has spoken about the most worrying thing she's seen after five men were arrested.
The woman, who chose to remain anonymous, was driving home to the village of Whelford when she saw vehicles blocking the road and a large group of men in hoods and balaclavas.
She called the police, and also messaged a local WhatsApp group to tell people to lock their doors, and when officers arrived five men were arrested on suspicion of explosive and terrorism offences.
The BBC reports that the police operation was not led by intelligence, meaning it was reportedly not known about in advance by the authorities, so it's very fortunate that the woman placed the call.
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She later told The Sun: "The worst thing is that we saw more than five people and they keep saying they arrested five."
When she came across the suspicious vans, which she thought looked like they had fake numbers and names on them, she turned and drove away, and thinks her own vehicle's appearance might have scared them away.
She told the Press Association 'they would have seen the bright headlights' and the group of men 'probably thought we were the police [and] panicked'.
The farmer was hopeful that she had 'just derailed whatever they were planning', but added: "A plucky amateur shouldn’t be spotting an unusual bit of activity at 1am when the air base is on high alert."
Appearing on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, she further explained that in the days leading up to it she'd seen activity from people she'd assumed were plain-clothed police officers, and initially thought the men she saw might have been the same.
She said: "In light of my awareness of a security threat to the base, I immediately called the MOD police.
"The phone rang out and they didn't answer, but at 1.36am I called 999 to report what I'd seen.
"Within ten minutes the village was full of armed police. I think it was pure luck that I arrived in the village at a similar time to the vans.
"I am absolutely staggered that it was left to me, as a member of the public, to see and report this."
She said she had been assuming that the roads around RAF Fairford were being monitored, and claims that despite calling the police at one in the morning, the nearby village wasn't evacuated until 6am.
The farmer added: "No one from the police has been in touch to ask me anything about it. I think they were hyper-focused and vigilant about the base itself and had absolutely no regard for our village.
"The vans were within metres of houses and those people were left unaware, apart from the fact that I sent a message to our village WhatsApp group hoping that some people would be awake and could make sure their doors were locked.
"It all happened fairly quickly. My impression was that they were fit and young. They were all wearing similar dark clothes."
Saying she was 'just really keen to highlight that it appears someone really dropped the ball on this', the farmer added that police had said at a press conference they responded to a call at 12.45am about a trio of suspicious vans and wanted to know why officers didn't know they were in Waltham 'almost an hour later' when she called.
She said she felt 'quite lucky' that the suspected terrorists didn't try and stop her car as she drove away and instead scattered when they saw her coming.
"We realised this was something pretty serious," she had told the Telegraph.
"We knew the air base had a credible threat of a terrorist attack before last night. So as soon as I saw them I was worried.
“I mean, you don’t see masked men running around at half one in the morning in the countryside near a secure air base and not have concerns.”
"Respectfully, she has a partial picture"
In an interview with BBC Breakfast, defence secretary West Streeting thanked the farmer for calling the police, but added she wasn't aware of all the circumstances surrounding the incident
He said: "I do want to thank the member of the public who acted quickly and called this in. I would also just say respectfully, she has a partial picture. I won't go beyond that in terms of commenting on operational security matters."
When pushed to confirm if it was the farmer's 999 call or long-term monitoring which led to the arrest of five men, he refused to comment further on the ongoing investigation.
85 homes near the base were evacuated during the incident, and Bedfordshire Constabulary's Temporary Chief Constable Maggie Blyth said that agencies 'believe the matter to be contained'.
Investigators are now looking at the potential source of the suspected terror attempt.
LADbible Group has contacted Counter Terrorism Policing and the Ministry of Defence for comment.
Joe Harker