Terror chief warns of danger of illegal Islamic schools

ISOLATED communities and illegal Islamic schools are a “breeding ground” for terrorism, a senior police chief has said, as he warned the security services are investigating 600 extremist plots.

Neil Basu, the Metropolitan Police’s counter-terror chief, said that the nature of the threat the UK faced has shifted, warning that the main danger came from extremists “in our midst”, the Daily Mail reported. Highlighting the risk posed by illegal schools, Mr Basu said: “segregated, isolated communities, unregulated education and home schooling are a breeding ground for extremist and future terrorists”.

The Met’s deputy assistant commissioner also revealed that the intelligence services were currently investigating 600 terror plots, of which 60 were opened in the past six weeks alone. In late July, Cressida Dick, the new commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, warned that 500 investigations were active.

Speaking during the Police Superintendents’ Association conference yesterday, Mr Basu said counter-terror officers currently open more investigations than they close each week. He said there were also weaknesses in the country’s borders and warned the UK’S terror threat level would remain at severe for at least the next five years.

He said: “It is not going to change. This was truly a summer like no other, it was truly a shift and not a spike, it is truly a new norm that we face. The threat was returning fighters and now it is the threat in our midst. We stopped a lot of our jihadis travelling and some are not committed to the cause. But if they cannot travel then why not attack here?

“Borders and ports are porous. There is a lack of biometrics and advanced passenger information. Our borders are not badly controlled but nevertheless they are still vulnerable.”