MI5 terror leads more than double in 12 months with ‘20,000 suspects on the radar’
LEADS pursued by MI5 and anti-terror cops have more than doubled in 12 months.
It follows the deadly wave of attacks last year.
Systems are now believed to be in place to track more than 20,000 additional suspects whose cases had been looked at but were then closed.
And officials hope pilot schemes with spooks sharing intelligence with councils and other agencies could help tackle extremism at source.
A number of plotters in last year’s atrocities were on MI5’s radar.
And the pilots, detailed by Government in this summer’s counter-terrorism strategy, aim to “alert a greater number of agencies with better information about the local threat”.
The scheme will also aim to identify which of the 20,000 former “subjects of interest” pose the greatest risk. Many remain extremists but are not involved in attack planning.
Sources also point out extremists are switching to vehicle and knife attacks easier than gun and bomb plots.
Extreme hate rise
EXTREMISTS now rely on social media to “normalise” their warped views and launch horrific abuse on anyone confronting them, the Government’s anti-extremism chief has warned.
And they are becoming increasingly professional in their efforts to spread hateful ideas.
Sara Khan launches a call for evidence today for a review due to be published next year. She said extremism was now thriving in parts of the UK, affecting the “very fabric” of society and undermining democracy.
“Brave counter-extremists who take them on suffer horrific abuse both online and offline,” Ms Khan said.
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London Bridge attack ringleader Khuram Butt hired their van just six hours earlier.
And many others now use the web for bomb tips instead of terror training camps abroad.
Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee is preparing to publish a report on the five UK terror attacks last year.
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