Police make further arrest over RAF Fairford incident

Counter terror police have made a seventh arrest in connection with an incident which took place close to RAF Fairford on 27 September.

A 22-year-old man, a British national, was arrested in Westminster on Tuesday on suspicion of preparation of terrorist acts under Section 5 of the Terrorism Act 2006, police said.

Six men in their 20s, five of whom were arrested on Sunday 27 September and one on Thursday 1 October, remain on police bail.

It came after three suspicious vans were stopped near the airbase in Gloucestershire on 27 September.

Senior National Coordinator for Counter Terrorism Policing, Vicki Evans, said: "This remains a live investigation and our specialist teams continue to pursue multiple lines of inquiry into the circumstances surrounding events near RAF Fairford.

"Once again, I'd like to thank the public for their continued support and patience while we work through this highly complex investigation.

"We're acutely aware of the public interest in this investigation, and we are working around the clock, and at pace, to identify the motivation behind events in Gloucestershire. We remain committed to investigating all possible angles."

RAF Fairford was used by American bombers which were removed over the weekend following the incident, but it remains unclear precisely why the US made the move.

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American officials have said the US removed its bombers partly because of a reported threat of a possible Iranian drone attack against the base.

The two officials, speaking anonymously to Sky's partner network NBC, could not say whether the threat was imminent.

Donald Trump has said there were "some threats" that led the US to withdraw its aircraft.

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Asked on Monday if they had been removed in response to a threat, the US president said: "Yeah, I think we can say that. They didn't fly out by accident.

"No, but there were some threats and rather than tempting the enemy, we'll capture the enemy and beat the enemy.

"But why should we keep them there? So we moved them around a little bit, not very far." He added: "We actually know the people who made the threat."

US vice president JD Vance said the planes had been redeployed "out of an abundance of caution, trying to protect our guys".

But secretary of state Marco Rubio sought to downplay the suggestion it was linked to security concerns. He said he "wouldn't directly tie" the redeployment of the planes to the security alert close to the RAF base.

He added: "It's not unusual to see movement of assets to different parts of the world based on exercises, redeployments, people changing out and new people coming in, new planes coming in and old planes going out."

(c) Sky News 2026: Police make further arrest over RAF Fairford incident