DANGER MEN
Internment demand by ex-cop boss
THOUSANDS of extremists should be locked up in internment camps, a Muslim ex-police chief said yesterday.
Tarique Ghaffur, an Assistant Commissioner at Scotland Yard during the 2005 7/7 bombings, said there were too many potential jihadis on the streets for police and MI5 to monitor.
He has called for new units to be set up to hold up to 3,000 fanatics currently at large on the security services “watch list”.
They would be forced to go through a deradicaliation programme and only released if they were deemed no longer a threat to society.
Mr Ghaffur, 58, conceded the internment of IRA members in Northern Ireland in the 1970s sparked more violence.
But he said the idea could work for extremists if the camps were approved by imams.
He said the Islamic religious leaders should also issue “fatwas” condemning atrocities such as last week’s Manchester suicide bombing that left 22 dead to show they are doing something beyond “delivering words”.
Mr Ghaffur said: “We face an unprecedented terrorist threat. About 3,000 extremists are subjects of interest to MI5 and police and about 500 plots are being monitored.
“The numbers are way too many for the security services and police to monitor.
“The atrocities of Manchester and Westminster have shown that ordinary surveillance, monitoring and tagging are not working.
“The time has come to set up special centres to detain these 3,000 extremists. Those who can be deradicalised should be carefully allowed back into the community. But those deemed too dangerous should be locked up.”
But ex-Scotland Yard Commissioner Lord Blair disagreed saying it would be “counter-productive” and it could anger Muslims whose co-operation was needed to root out terrorists.
Yesterday armed police swooped on another house in Manchester’s Moss Side. An explosion was heard that was believed to be a concussion grenade used during the storming of the home.
Reports suggested two men, believed to be brothers, were arrested.
Last night police also arrested a 25-yearold man in the Old Trafford area and a 19-year-old in Gorton.