this post was submitted on 30 Sep 2026
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Mystery solved. People stealing fuel is a staple of high prices fuel scare.
Where did they find it, in the gas tank?
Article failed to say or i failed to read it.
Easier sources of petrol are available, choosing to steal from a military base, a place specifically designed to surveil and defend itself with lethal force, is problematic.
But choosing an out of the way lane to exchange stolen fuel is less so. The fact that it's isolated because it's next to a military base possible shows a lack of forethought...
Cameras and boots on the ground around the perimeter of a military base make it a very poor place for an exchange, my guess would be you can't be a free criminal and that unaware of your environment.
Criminals are not known for their intelligence. I suspect there was a bit of an "oh shit" moment when the armed police showed up.
I think they may have had a lot in common with the Chuckle Brothers. I think they were duped by a power representing Iran and while they were busy to-me to-youing at the base one of them panicked and dialed 999 because they wanted to be caught by the British police rather than American forces who might bundle them in a plane to the land of the free, no questions asked.
Bases don't usually have fence patrols or cameras unless it's very high security. Usually it's just at the gates.
Locations like Area 51, though, they've got thermal motion sensors that'll pick you up and have people watching you long before you know.
That base was on foreign, but I think still mostly allied, territory and planes were leaving from it to bomb Iran, likely it cast its eyes around its borders once in a while.
You mean the place that, if these were thieves indeed, would have been robed if a farmer did not happen to stroll by?
You are describing the local police response outside the base, the base itself might have been observing and shadowing them the entire time.
Do you know, or have reason to believe, the base was observing and shadowing them the entire time?
I cannot disclose that information, largely because I don't know.
... and that is fair. You may be right on this but nothing I have read give me the impression the military was actually watching them.
Honestly, I know little about UK but in NA it seems we have drank the Hollywood koolaid too long and believe some super hero version of reality
Yeah, the thieves who usually do this kind of stuff don't think that far or care that much. But I'm open to all possibilities.
Afaik they weren't actually in the base, just in the village neighboring it
Also stealing from the military's supplies to sell on the open market is a longstanding racket in many countries, like Russia but not limited to there at all.
That's not common in the UK as far as I'm aware. More likely they were stealing reserves which ordinary people were keeping in sheds and barns, which is fairly common.