The current threat of a terror attack on UK soil is “smoldering,” counter-terror chiefs have warned, with three late-stage attacks foiled in the past 12 months.
Vicki Evans, the Senior National Coordinator of Counter Terrorism Policing, said today some 43 late-stage terror plots had been stopped since 2017, some of which were “goal line saves”. Of the three this year, two were Islamist plots and one was from the far right.
Ms Evans said the current threat is classed as “likely” amid the fallout in Syria, where dictator Bashar al-Assad has been overthrown. She said: “History tells us that any instability creates space for extreme violence and acts of terror.
You would expect me to be rightly concerned that we could have a growing void that could and may create that in those spaces”.
The counterterrorism chief said ISIS is not the force it once was but that groups like them “capitalize on the chaos and galvanize support,” which can lead to a “change in threat level.”
She flagged that an increasingly common trait they are seeing in case loads is the “growing fascination with extreme violence and content”. She said the type of material they are encountering –
which could come from either criminal investigations or referrals from Prevent – “is absolutely staggering and horrific”. She added that it comes to digital forensics, almost all investigations will involve thousands upon thousands of downloads.
Vile material is being accessed by children as young as 10, she said, adding: “We’re seeing search histories that contain violence, misogyny, extreme pornography, racism, fascination with mass violence, school massacres. Sometimes that’s coupled with terrorist material and sometimes it’s not.
“But it’s a pick and mix of horror – horrific content and it is there and evident and prevalent. I would not wish those histories that we see on anyone and would not want to see them in the histories of loved ones and family members.
These grotesque fascinations with violence and harmful abuse we’re seeing are increasingly common, we almost see individuals shopping between different ideologies before settling on one and sometimes never settling on one.
“When they don’t settle, what’s certain is they are still being impacted by that harmful content we’re seeing. It’s unfortunate we’re seeing this a lot in young people…and that is hugely worrying…
and it’s a global concern.” She said there are some “deep, dark hotspots” where “we cannot leave the activity and the groups unattended”
