Terror laws watchdog says threat is worse now than six years ago
BRITAIN’S terror laws watchdog has warned the country faces a greater threat now than when he took the post six years ago.
David Anderson QC said a sense of being “over the worst” when he started in 2011 had been a “false dawn”.
The independent reviewer of terrorism legislation said there is now a “wider range” of dangers.
“What we see now is not more people being killed in this country – we’ve been both lucky and skilful in that regard over the last 10 years,” he said.
“We are seeing far more experienced terrorist fighters from this country in Syria than we ever saw in Afghanistan or east Africa or other theatres of war.
“And we are seeing a realisation on the part of the terrorists that they don’t need sophisticated explosives plots to take great numbers of lives.
“People using automatic weapons, heavy goods vehicles, even knives and machetes.”
The potential return of jihadists after fighting alongside Islamic State has emerged as a challenge for security agencies in recent years. Around 850 UK-linked individuals of “national security concern” have travelled to join the Syrian conflict, with just under half thought to have come back.
Mr Anderson said: “We’ve seen a lot of people return already from Syria, about a quarter of them have been prosecuted, and only a few have engaged in terrorist activity of any kind in this country, so far as we know.
“But we have to remember that the people who have returned already were not necessarily the most committed fighters and that hundreds of Britons remain in that theatre.
“When Isis is defeated and loses its territory, they will be looking for somewhere else to go – back to their home countries or elsewhere in the world.”