RAF base kidnap pair ‘part of team’
FRANCESCA ROBBINS POLICE investigating the botched kidnapping of an RAF serviceman say it is “likely” his two attackers were not acting alone.
Detective Superintendent Paul Durham said yesterday that investigators believe they were “part of a larger team”.
The victim, who is in his 20s, was jogging near RAF Marham in Norfolk on Thursday when the men tried to bundle him into a people carrier at knifepoint.
The serviceman managed to fight off the pair.
One assailant had a “military style knife” with a two-and-a-half-inch blade.
It raised fears the men were plotting an attack like the one on off-duty Fusilier Lee Rigby. He was hacked to death near the Royal Artillery Barracks in Woolwich, south-east London in 2013.
The Marham victim, who has not been named, is said to have been “very shaken” by the ordeal.
He gave detailed descriptions of the men. Both are described as being between 20 and 30, and of “Middle Eastern origin”.
Det Supt Durham asked anyone who might have seen the men’s darkcoloured people carrier to come forward.
He said: “While the victim only witnessed two attackers, there may have been more than two people in the vehicle. Given the nature of the attack, it is likely they were part of a larger team.
“This is important…it is the vehicle we are interested in, regardless of the number of people seen inside.”
The gang may have had the base under surveillance before the attack since they targeted the victim on a regular running route used by personnel.
Norfolk Police Assistant Chief Constable Nick Dean said: “We are unable at this moment to discount terrorism but other lines of enquiry are open.”
Terror experts fear the motive for the attack may have been revenge for Britain’s involvement in the war against Isis.
RAF Marham is home to the Tornado bombers used in Syria and Iraq.
A former commanding officer of the Royal Anglian Regiment, Colonel Richard Kemp, said the abduction attempt was unlikely to be for any other motive than terrorism.
Military bases throughout the UK are now on high alert in the wake of the incident.