British Defense Minister Wes Streeting said on Monday that it was “absolutely unwise” to speculate on the motives of individuals arrested near a British airbase on Sunday, a report said.
This came in response to a question about whether Iran was involved in the incident. British police arrested five men near an airbase used by US forces on Sunday on suspicion of involvement in explosives and terrorism-related offenses, following a report that three vans were heading towards the military airport, which was used to launch strikes on Iran.
U.K. police earlier said that five men were arrested in the early hours of Sunday near an air base used by the United States during its war against Iran are being held on suspicion of preparing a terrorist act that appeared to involve three trucks.
London’s Metropolitan Police, which takes the lead on potential terrorist activities, said police received a call at 12:45 a.m. related to the three suspicious vehicles that appeared to be traveling toward RAF Fairford, a U.K.-owned base that is operated by the U.S. under an agreement dating back to the Cold War.
The arrests, according to a report, come at a time of heightened tensions around the threat from hostile states to the U.K., with Russia and Iran among those that have used proxies to commit crimes on their behalf on British soil.
(With inputs from AP)