Is this an actual, sharp photograph of suspects arrested near RAF Fairford air base in the United Kingdom on September 27, 2026? No, that's not true: According to an AI-detection tool, the image contained a SynthID watermark indicating it had been manipulated with tools from OpenAI. It was likely created based on a blurry picture circulating on social media that showed the suspects in question being arrested by police.
A copy of the sharp image appeared in a post on X (archived here) published on September 27, 2026. It opened:
🚨 BREAKING: Police have released a picture of the 5 men arrested near RAF Fairford.
A spokesman said: "They're not entirely sure of their nationality, but strongly believe they are all British."
They're not taking any chances, so they've asked Jacob Rees-Mogg to verify their nationality.
🥴🇬🇧
Definitely satire. 🙄
This is what the picture in the post looked like:
(Image source: post by @boot15_vu on X)
According to a detection tool provided by OpenAI the image was edited or created using their software.
(Image source: OpenAI detector results)
The image was likely generated based on a viral photograph of suspects being arrested near the airbase that was also used in several media reports, for example by The Daily Mail (archived here) in their coverage.
(Image source: Daily Mail article)
