Sneaky yes, evil not.
Imagine the satisfaction of someone who had twigged that the markings were bogus (& I did hint the clue that might give it all away are the vehicle markings), they would have then thought perhaps more of it was bogus, especially as the missiles looks like no known type.
Another sneaky one was the RN markings being changed around, but you spotted that getting virtually all of them. I'm sure you felt rightly chuffed that you had foiled the sneaky stuff.
I like to think that the participants are like officers of MI 10 presented with a photo. Scrutinising everything, assuming nothing, & teasing out facts & info from the irrelevant.
Did your friend get to meet Sir Les? A big fan here, I did see him in London once. He filled the void that Borat now occupies. :-D