Oct 29, 2026 · 13 min · 9 segments
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Philip ThompsonHost
RAF Fairford is a Royal Air Force station but for decades it has been run by the United States Air Force.
It sits on the southern edge of the Cotswolds and it is the main base in Europe for America's heavy bombers.
When the United States and Israel went to war with Iran at the end of February this year, Keir Starmer at first refused to let the Americans use British bases for the strikes, but then changed his mind on the 1st of March after a drone hit the RAF base in Cyprus.
For weeks, I had these planes flying overhead on their way to drop some freedom crackers on Iran.
So clearly, if Iran wanted to hit the US and Europe where it hurts, it would have its eyes on RAF Fairford.
In the early hours of Sunday, the 27th of September, police took a 999 call about three suspicious vehicles heading towards the base.
The strangest thing about that, though, was that the call was made by one of the men later arrested.
About 50 minutes later, the farmer came across the vans near the village of Welford.
She has said she rang the Ministry of Defence Police first, but got no answer and then called 999.
The five men arrested were all in their early 20s and all described as British nationals.
By 8 that morning a major incident had been declared and a 400 metre cordon was set up allowing the army's bomb disposal team to go in.
The following day, they confirmed there were no explosive devices found, but they had recovered a quantity of petrol.
The group had not got beyond the perimeter fence and no damage had been caused.
At least one van carried a logo and phone number for a non-existent diesel delivery company.
For a few days, that led to a theory that this was just a gang of fuel thieves at a time when energy prices are climbing.
So was this a serious plot by very serious people that went badly wrong? A false flag or a few amateurs hired to make a quick buck? While eight men have been arrested in total, two of them have now been charged.
Mahmoud Abdul Karim, who is 24, is charged with assisting a foreign intelligence service between the end of August and the night of the incident.
RAF Fairford is a Royal Air Force station but for decades it has been run by the United States Air Force.
It sits on the southern edge of the Cotswolds and it is the main base in Europe for America's heavy bombers.
When the United States and Israel went to war with Iran at the end of February this year, Keir Starmer at first refused to let the Americans use British bases for the strikes, but then changed his mind on the 1st of March after a drone hit the RAF base in Cyprus.
For weeks, I had these planes flying overhead on their way to drop some freedom crackers on Iran.
So clearly, if Iran wanted to hit the US and Europe where it hurts, it would have its eyes on RAF Fairford.
In the early hours of Sunday, the 27th of September, police took a 999 call about three suspicious vehicles heading towards the base.
The strangest thing about that, though, was that the call was made by one of the men later arrested.
About 50 minutes later, the farmer came across the vans near the village of Welford.
She has said she rang the Ministry of Defence Police first, but got no answer and then called 999.
The five men arrested were all in their early 20s and all described as British nationals.
By 8 that morning a major incident had been declared and a 400 metre cordon was set up allowing the army's bomb disposal team to go in.
The following day, they confirmed there were no explosive devices found, but they had recovered a quantity of petrol.
The group had not got beyond the perimeter fence and no damage had been caused.
At least one van carried a logo and phone number for a non-existent diesel delivery company.
For a few days, that led to a theory that this was just a gang of fuel thieves at a time when energy prices are climbing.
So was this a serious plot by very serious people that went badly wrong? A false flag or a few amateurs hired to make a quick buck? While eight men have been arrested in total, two of them have now been charged.
Mahmoud Abdul Karim, who is 24, is charged with assisting a foreign intelligence service between the end of August and the night of the incident.
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