What happened

UK police said they received a call at about 00:45 on 27 September concerning three suspicious vehicles that appeared to be travelling toward RAF Fairford. Armed officers stopped them in the nearby Whelford area and arrested five men on suspicion of offences under the Explosives Act; the men were subsequently arrested on suspicion of preparing a terrorist act under section 5 of the Terrorism Act. Counter Terrorism Policing took charge of the investigation, a 400-metre cordon was established around the vehicles, the Army's Explosive Ordnance Disposal unit examined them, and about 85 households were advised to evacuate as a precaution. The official statements did not confirm that a viable explosive device was found, that the suspects entered the airfield, or that RAF Fairford was definitively their intended target. They also did not establish motive, affiliation, nationality or state sponsorship. No explosion, casualty, damage or operational interruption was reported. The marker identifies RAF Fairford for archive context and is not an alleged impact point. This record overlaps with the site's strategic major alert about the same arrests; it is included here so the attempted security incident appears in the Airports archive.

When cited sources give different casualty, damage or spill figures for this event, they’re reported side by side above rather than merged into one number. See how confidence levels work.