Western Daily Press

Terror-related arrests fall by third

-

ARRESTS for terrorism-related activity have fallen by nearly a third, official figures show.

The number of suspects held in the year to the end of September, 317, was down by 31% compared with 462 in the previous year.

The Home Office said the decrease is partly due to a relatively large number of arrests in the 12 months from October 2016 - a period which included investigat­ions in the wake of the attacks in London and Manchester.

Police say the fall should not be seen as an indication of a reduction in the threat.

Deputy Assistant Commission­er Dean Haydon, senior national co-ordinator for counter-terrorism policing, said: “This is the fourth consecutiv­e year where we’ve seen the number of counter-terrorism related arrests exceed 300 - a level that hadn’t been reached since we began to record this data in 2001. It reflects the fact we have seen a genuine step-change in terrorist activity, but equally, that we are meeting this with increased activity.”

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United Kingdom