Good morning. Vehicles suspected of carrying explosives zipping across Britain, entirely unbeknownst to authorities, is a disconcerting prospect.
Initially, it seemed precisely this had occurred in Gloucestershire early on Sunday. A major attack on RAF Fairford appeared to have been scuppered by “pure luck”, a local farmer said, after she noticed suspicious vans and masked men on an otherwise deserted country lane. Had she not tipped off police, the vigilant villager believes the five men arrested on terror offences would not have been apprehended. That account prompted questions about whether police and security services had been caught off guard.