The number of arrests in U.K. terrorism probes soared by 40 percent this year as police grappled with growing numbers of British citizens traveling to war-torn Syria to work on behalf of Islamic militants.
Police throughout the U.K. arrested 312 people for a range of terrorist-related offenses as of Dec. 16, compared with 222 in 2013, according to data provided by the Metropolitan Police and the U.K. Home Office. In London, police said they detained about 35 percent more people than three years ago amid investigations of British citizens returning from Syria or Iraq.
Islamic State militants have murdered U.S. and U.K. hostages, while videos released online appear to show men with British accents among the fighters. The U.K. terror alert was raised to “severe,” the second-highest level, in August as countries around the world expressed concerns that militants may return to their home countries with plans to attack targets.
“The authorities are coming under pressure,” Raffaello Pantucci, Director of International Security Studies at the Royal United Services Institute for Defence Studies, said in an interview earlier this month. “More people from Syria and Iraq are coming back so you are dealing with a bigger community of people who can be arrested.”
U.K. prosecutors secured their first Syria-related extremist convictions this year with jail terms for those returning from the country ranging between two and 18 years. More than 60 were arrested in London on Syria-related charges alone this year, the MPS said. More than 500 people have traveled to Syria from the U.K. since the country’s civil war began in March 2011.Read the rest of the story HERE.
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