President Donald Trump criticised the UK’s move to release on bail five men held over an alleged terror plot against a Royal Air Force base used by the US for strikes against Iran , as British police continue to investigate foreign links to the incident.
Bloomberg reported earlier Monday that UK authorities had been closely monitoring increased threats to the base and had tightened security at the site before the incident.
Taylor said police were investigating whether the incident involved “activity committed by proxies or individuals, either knowingly or unknowingly, working on behalf of a foreign state. Mahmood said the area around the base in Gloucestershire , England, had been deemed safe for residents to return.
The decision to release the suspects sowed confusion about an incident that authorities had only a day earlier described as a serious attempted attack disrupted at a late stage.
The five men, who were all British nationals aged between 23 and 25, were released hours before a legal deadline prevented them from being held without formal charges.
Counter Terrorism Policing chief Laurence Taylor said the investigation would continue despite the decision to let the men out of custody. “This does not mean the investigation is over,” Taylor told reporters on Monday afternoon. Prime Minister Andy Burnham said separately that he would break from his schedule at the Labour Party’s annual conference in Liverpool to convene an emergency security meeting to discuss the case.
The official asked not named while discussing an ongoing investigation. “They are subject to stringent conditions on their movement and contact with others. They absolutely remain under investigation as we explore multiple lines of inquiry. Top cabinet ministers used their speeches from the conference floor to reassure voters that the threat was under control.
An investigation found no viable explosives at the scene of the men’s arrest, a UK official said separately on Monday, confirming a report by the Daily Mail newspaper.
