1 day ago
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On Sunday morning, the world was watching as drama unfolded in the village of Whelford.
Before sunrise, residents were called from their beds and told to evacuate as a huge police operation unfolded in the village, which is next door to RAF Fairford, a base used by the US Air Force.
One villager managed to take a picture of five men sitting on the ground, stripped to the waist, handcuffed and under armed guard.
They were arrested for offences under the Explosives Act. But now counter-terrorism detectives say no explosives were found in their three vans, only an "accelerant" - petrol.
What some newspapers called a "suspected bomb plot" ended in the suspects being bailed. So what was going on?
The US President Donald Trump asserted that the men had been trying to do "big damage" to the base. "We had them under view for a long time, and we got them," he declared.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said: "What could have happened in the UK over the weekend is a very serious situation. It's one that clearly involved the hands of a foreign actor."
But in a veiled criticism of that, the head Counter Terrorism Policing in the UK Laurence Taylor said that the worry that a lot of people had been experiencing had been "heightened by the international commentary".
He also defended his detectives' decision to give the suspects police bail with "very strict conditions". This had been criticised by President Trump.
Taylor said it was an "investigative decision and one which is grounded in experience and strategy".
This suggests there were good tactical reasons for releasing the men on bail, perhaps to encourage their cooperation.
