Terror arrests at record high after attacks

ANTI-TERROR ARRESTS surged to a new record high as Britain was hit by a wave of attacks amid a “step-change” in the threat level.

In the year to the end of March, 441 individuals were held as part of terrorism investigations – a rate of well over one a day.

It is the highest number of arrests in the 17 years since data was first gathered, and an increase of 17 per cent over the previous year.

The sharp rise was partly driven by police operations following the five attacks in London and Manchester between March and September last year. In total, 52 arrests were made.

It also emerged that the total number of arrests linked to suspected terrorism-related activity in Britain since the 9/11 attacks of 2001 has now passed the 4,000 mark, standing at 4,182 as of the end of March.

Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu, the national policing lead for counterterrorism, said: “With the terrorist attacks of 2017 we saw a genuine step-change in momentum.

“As a result, our operational activity increased to meet the new and emerging threats we now face.

“A year on and our activity continues to be at unprecedented levels; shown, not least, by the fact that, in the past year, working together with the security services we have stopped an average of one terrorist attack every month.”

In the latest Home Office figures, the scope of data collection has now been widened to include all arrests with a “terrorist element”, which includes people who are believed to be linked to terrorist activity, but are held for other matters like fraud or drugs.

Of the 441 arrests, just under a third (143) led to a charge, mostly (114) for terrorism-related offences, while 57 per cent were released without charge.

Of them 56 were women, the highest number arrested in a financial year since data collection started.

Arrests of people of Asian (180) and white (151) appearance were up by 11 per cent and 10 per cent year-on-year respectively, with both at the highest level recorded in a financial year.

The scale of the terror threat is seen as unprecedented.

Counter-terror agencies say they have foiled 12 Islamist and four extreme right-wing plots since March last year.