Terrorism in the time of Covid 19

Anti-terror police warn that extremists have not stopped planning attacks

COUNTER terrorism officers have foiled three terror attacks since the coronavirus pandemic began. Despite the lockdown causing terror-related arrests to fall to the lowest levels seen in nearly a decade, Counter Terrorism Policing (CTP) says the threat of terrorism has not gone away.

Their comments follow the release of Home Office figures that show there were a total of 185 arrests made across the UK for terrorism-related activity in 2020.

That is 97 fewer than the previous year - a fall of 34 per cent, and the lowest annual total since 2011.

The fall in arrests, indicating a drop in terror-related crimes, is thought to be due to the overall reduction in crime seen since the start of the lockdown in March last year.

Despite this drop, the CTP say they have prevented three terror attacks since the pandemic began, bringing the total number of plots they and their intelligence partners have foiled to 28 since March 2017.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Dean Haydon, senior national coordinator for CTP, 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 focussed 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.”

One worrying trend revealed in the figures shows that while arrests of all other age groups fell, the number of arrests of children under the age 18 went up from 12 in 2019, to 19 in 2020.

Of the total 185 people arrested, most were men, although 19 (10 per cent) were female - the lowest proportion since 2014.

For the third consecutive year, the highest proportion of arrests were of people of “white ethnic appearance”. They accounted for 48 per cent of arrests, which was up from 41 per cent in 2019.

Of those arrested last year, 81 per cent considered themselves to be British, or British dual nationality. That has increased from just 33 per cent of those arrested in 2002.

Of the 185 arrests seen in 2020, 56 resulted in a charge - of which 48 were for terrorism-related offences.

So far, 22 of those cases have been prosecuted, with 20 found guilty of terror-related offences and two not guilty.

There were a further 27 terrorism trials that took place in 2020 that related to arrests and investigations that occured during the previous year.

They included 25 successful convictions under the Terrorism Act 2000, and two acquittals.

Among sentences handed out by the courts last year, three terrorists were jailed for life, one was sentenced to a period of 10 years or more in prison, and 15 offenders were jailed for between four and 10 years.

As of December 31 2020, there were 209 prisoners being held in custody for terorism-connected offences in Britain.

The vast majority (75 per cent) were categorised as holding Islamic extremist views, while 20 per cent were right-wing extremists.

During the year ending September, 2020, 42 prisoners who had been held for terrorism-related or terrorism-connected offences were released from custody.