Project GRIFFIN Newsletter

UK terrorism arrests hit record high
– The Guardian
A record number of terrorism arrests were made in the
past year, according to official figures, surpassing the
previous peak following the 7 July London bombings.
There were 299 arrests for terrorism-related offences in
the 12 months to March 2015, a rise of 31% compared
on the previous year and the highest number since data
collection began in September 2001, Home Office data
revealed. Of the 299 people arrested, 118 were charged
with an offence. Within the period, a record number of
women arrested for such offences was recorded at 35;
the number of 18- to 20-year-olds arrested more than
doubled, from 20 to 43 arrests. There was also a rise in
the number of suspects held for more than seven days.
About 21 people arrested under section 41 of the
Terrorism Act – which allows the police to arrest and
detain a person without charge for up to 48 hours and
apply extended custody – were detained for more than a
week, compared with just one person in the previous
period. Of those arrested, 15 were charged. The
increase came after the official threat level was raised in
August from substantial to severe, meaning an attack is
highly likely. The threat level was heightened as
hundreds of so-called foreign fighters were being lured
to Iraq and Syria to fight with Islamic State. Police and
security services now believe at least 700 potential
extremists from the UK have travelled to Syria, with
about half thought to have returned to Britain. Home
Office officials said the increase in arrests in the most
recent period was driven by a spike of 106 arrests
between October and December last year. This
compares with 67 arrests between January and March.
The previous high of 284 arrests was recorded in the
year to March 2006, covering the London bomb attacks
in 2005, in which 52 people were killed and more than
700 were injured. It is likely that the rate of terrorism
arrests has risen further since the period covered by the
statistics. Last month, Mark Rowley, the country’s
leading counter-terrorism officer, disclosed that suspects
were now being held at a rate of more than one a day.
Among those arrested, 78% considered themselves
British or dual-British nationality, compared with only
52% of suspects in the year ending March 2011. The
batch of figures also show there were nearly 32,000
searches carried out using the controversial Schedule 7
powers under the Terrorism Act, which allows police
officers to detain without reasonable cause for suspicion.
However, this was a fall of 28% on the previous year.
The legislation was used to detain David Miranda, the
partner of the former Guardian journalist Glenn
Greenwald, for nine hours at Heathrow in August 2013.
Charlie Winter, senior researcher at counter-extremism
thinktank Qulliam, said: “These figures and the significant
rises are to be expected given the fact that Islamic State is
presenting an unprecedented situation. We’ve a threat
that’s greater than it has been but also more closely
scrutinised than it has been. “The security services are
seeking to keep on top of the threat that individuals could
present to the UK. These figures could be indicative that
they’re being more cautious than they would have been.
“Islamic State does call for attacks that are not high level
operations but can happen at a grassroots level. Rather
than stopping a plot that is on the cusp of being carried out,
arrests are being made earlier in the process.”
http://www.theguardian.com/uknews/2015/sep/10/uk-terror-arrests-hit-recordhigh
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