Police urge vigilance amid warnings that terrorists could seek to exploit the easing of lockdown
Lifting lockdown will provide terrorists with a greater opportunity to strike, a senior police officer has warned, as he revealed three plots had been foiled since the start of the pandemic.
Assistant commissioner Dean Haydon, senior national coordinator for counter terrorism policing, said extremists could seek to exploit the easing of restrictions in the coming weeks and months.
He urged the public to remain vigilant as he revealed that there were more than 800 live investigations currently taking place.
Official figures revealed that the number of terror arrests in the year to Dec 2020 fell by a third as the lockdown curtailed the activities of extremists.
But despite the reduction in the number of arrests three viable terrorist plots were interrupted by the authorities during the pandemic.
It means that a total of 28 terror plots have now been prevented in the last four years, illustrating the scale of the task facing counter terror police and the intelligence agencies.
Mr Haydon said: “These statistics tell me two things. Firstly, that despite facing unprecedented challenges brought about by the pandemic, Counter Terrorism Policing continued to keep the public safe by making 185 arrests across more than 800 live investigations – stopping three possible terror attacks in the process.
“And secondly, that while the rest of us have been focused on protecting ourselves and our families from this terrible disease, terrorists have not stopped planning attacks or radicalising vulnerable people online.
“As we follow the Government’s roadmap out of the tightest restrictions there will be greater opportunity for terrorists to operate, and we want the public to join the police, security staff and retail workers in a collective community effort to minimise the chance of attack.
“When we say that ‘Communities defeat terrorism’ it is not just a catchphrase. We know from experience that public information and action helps saves lives and lead to the significant arrests detailed in these statistics.”
It comes as Home Office figures also revealed that one in five people behind bars for terror offences in Britain last year were right-wing extremists – the highest proportion since records began.
A total of 42 out of 209 prisoners in 2020 were classed as holding "extreme right-wing" views, up from 18 per cent the previous year.
While the 75 per cent are still classed as having Islamist extremist views, the number of inmates recorded as holding this ideology fell from 177 to 156 in the 12-month period.
