Britain faces growing threat from 350 jihadis back from Syria who may be plotting attacks in the UK
They let them back in with no problem, however. They save the ban for counter-jihadis. Britain is committing suicide, and congratulating itself all the while for how full of “community cohesion” it is.
“Britain faces growing threat from 350 jihadis back from Syria who may be plotting attacks in the UK says top anti-terror officer,” by Chris Greenwood and Arthur Martin, Daily Mail, 14 May 2015
Half of the 700 British jihadis suspected of fighting alongside Islamic State militants in Syria are back in the UK, police revealed yesterday.
Scotland Yard said the nation was facing the biggest terrorist threat since the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, with suspects being arrested at a rate of almost one a day as growing numbers of women and children are drawn to extremism.
Senior officers fear troubled teenagers are being groomed by the flood of online Islamic State propaganda. Street gang members previously involved in knife crime and muggings are forming Islamist cells and even trying to co-ordinate international plots.
Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley, the country’s most senior counter-terrorism officer, said police were working on hundreds of active inquiries. He said the number of people of ‘significant concern’ to have travelled to the war zone had passed 700. Asked how many had returned, he said there was a ‘fairly even balance’ between those who remained in Syria and those who had come home.
‘Islamic State and other terrorist groups are trying to direct attacks in the UK, encouraging British citizens to travel to Syria to fight and train. They are seeking, through propaganda, to provoke individuals in the UK to carry out violent attacks here.
‘There is no doubt of the horrific nature of the offences being committed overseas. The influence of those who wish to bring similar violence to the streets of the UK has been an increasing threat here.’
New figures reveal there were a record 338 arrests for suspected terrorism offences in 2014/15, an increase of a third on the previous year. Of the arrests, 11 per cent were women and almost one in five (17 per cent) were teenagers.
A total of 89 people were convicted of terror-related offences in the same period and an astonishing 114 suspects are awaiting trial.
An analysis by the Metropolitan Police reveals a steady increase in terrorism arrests since the conflict began in Syria in 2010.
Significant milestones in the bloodshed, including the declaration of an Islamic Caliphate and the Jihadi John murders, have all been reflected in increased police activity. Mr Rowley described the number of arrests in the past year as ‘quite dramatic’, adding: ‘You are getting towards an arrest a day.’
The top officer said there were growing parallels between gang crime and the trend for teenagers to be lured into extremism.
He said: ‘The make-up of terrorism has changed. You would not have seen that five or ten years ago. That mix of families, women, teenagers getting involved in terrorism is something that comes out. It’s not going to be a one-off to see people in their teenage years coming into this. It replicates a bit what we see in gang crime – people with troubled histories get drawn into serious crime and can get drawn into this.’
Meanwhile, Met Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe said he supported Tory plans to update powers to obtain communications data.
Home Secretary Theresa May has confirmed she will push to bring in a so-called ‘snooper’s charter’ to maintain the security services’ ability to monitor electronic communications. Sir Bernard branded it a ‘welcome development’.
Syria’s antiquities chief has warned that if the jihadis seize Palmyra – one of the archaeological jewels of the Middle East – they will destroy everything.
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