[lapsus calami]

 

 

They may have had an informant. The "hiker that found the weapons" may be a cover story.

 

Maybe - but you'd think they'd kept it quiet under OPSEC without need of any cover story - with the possible exception that they had a compelling reason to deliberately feed such a story out.

 

 

[flamberge]

....with the possible exception that they had a compelling reason to deliberately feed such a story out....

The compelling reason for publicity would be to cause the attack teams to abort their missions. That is what usually happens when pre-attack indicators get spotted. It is easier than finding safe houses and much easier than fending off an attack-in-progress.

If they actually found a safe house or an attack team heading for assembly, security forces would prefer to roll them up quietly without any publicity at all. Things might sometimes work out that way.