Counter-terror police on high alert for jihadi attacks from potential British ISIS supporters
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Counter-terrorism police fear that uncertainty over the future of Syria could fuel jihadi attacks in the UK. Border officials are on high alert for potential British ISIS supporters freed from jail who may try to return to Britain. Vicki Evans, national counter-terrorism coordinator, said the current terror threat was "smouldering" and had never been more complex with the danger posed by Islamic extremists, state-sponsored plots and planned attacks from individuals with no obvious ideology.
"Events in Syria are certainly something that are a focus and something that all of us need to think about with our partners," she said. "It's that stark reminder that we need to focus on old enemies of peace and security as well as the new. "History tells us that, unfortunately, any instability creates space for extremism, for violence and acts of terror.".
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player. . Deputy Assistant Commissioner Evans said although the British government had engaged diplomatically with the de facto new Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, his victorious rebel group Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS) remains a banned terror group under UK law and anyone demonstrating support for it could be charged with a terror crime.
She said no such suspects had been arrested, but would not confirm or deny if any were under investigation. DAC Evans also revealed that counter-terrorism police were increasingly finding images of extreme violence, pornography, misogyny and gore that sometimes fuelled terror plans in the online viewing history of suspects as young as 10.
