‘No trial’ camps planned

THOUSANDS of British terror suspects could be held in special camps under a crackdown on jihadis, the Daily Star Sunday has learned.

It comes as the SAS prepares to re-form a special unit called Task Force Black with Home Office permission to use lethal force.

The option of locking up suspected terrorists without trial in internment camps if the security situation in Britain deteriorates was discussed last week, according to Government sources. MI5 has revealed there are 23,000 extremists living in Britain and its agents are at full stretch following last week’s Manchester bombing.

Calls for a form of temporary internment came during a meeting of Cobra – the Government’s crisis management committee.

The tactic was last used from 1971 to 1975 in Northern Ireland during the Troubles when almost 2,000 suspected IRA members were detained without trial. One source said last night: “Those detained would be held in special camps, they would not be prisoners and in some cases they would simply be off the streets for a matter of days, not weeks or months.

“It would be a deeply controversial move and does not yet have full Government support.”

Colonel Richard Kemp, who chaired the Cobra committee’s intelligence group, is a supporter of the plan.

He said: “There is an option for British citizens who are strongly suspected by the intelligence services of being involved in terrorism but who we cannot put in front of a court because we don’t have sufficient evidence, and that is internment.” The latest move to combat terrorists comes with the reformation of the SAS Task Force Black.

The 80-strong squad will operate closely with police firearms officers but special forces commandos will lead any assault on suspects.