The terror threat from jailed Islamists is set to rise this year as almost one a week is set to be released from jail, a new Home Office strategy has warned.
“Terror threat to rise as jailed Islamists are freed,” by Charles Hymas, Telegraph, July 18, 2023:
Between 40 and 50 terrorists are due to be freed this year, posing a threat that could “last for decades,” according to the updated Contest counter-terrorism strategy published on Tuesday.
It warned that four of the nine declared terrorist attacks in the UK since 2018 were perpetrated by serving or recently released prisoners. As of March 2023, there were 232 people in jail for terrorism-connected offences but ministers are braced for a surge in releases this year after a series of successful prosecutions a decade ago.
“Those convicted of terrorism, or a related offence, may continue to pose a threat [on release],” said the report. “Despite ongoing efforts to mitigate the terrorist risk posed by individuals in custody, the vast majority will require long term risk management which may last for decades post release.”
The strategy, updated from 2018 and published by Suella Braverman, the Home Secretary, warned that the terror threat is “rising” with “more attempts” to mount attacks expected from extremists.
The domestic threat stemmed from “individuals or small groups”, inspired or encouraged by established terror groups like Islamic State (IS) or Al Qaeda, but who were “less predictable” and harder for the security services and police to “detect and investigate”.
Prisoner releases imminent
There also remained a “persistent and evolving” threat from IS and Al Qaeda who were attempting to “strengthen their ability to carry out complex, directed attacks” on western countries including the UK.
The Home Office is understood to “fully expect” individual terrorists to use the small boat Channel crossings to try to sneak into Britain. It is understood they believe it is an “opportunity” that terrorists might want to exploit but there is no evidence of an organised attempt by terror groups to do so.
It is understood a “significant number” of terrorist prisoner releases are imminent, and in particular this year. They include the first British jihadists jailed after going to Syria in the early 2010s, and a terror gang caught in Operation Crevice over a plot to blow up the Bluewater shopping centre and the Ministry of Sound in 2004.
The Home Office is said to be “worried” over this year’s peak in releases, particularly through the second half of 2023. They include Yusuf Zubair Sarwa, who travelled to Syria intending on “martyrdom on the battlefield” and has been released from jail after nine years behind bars for joining a jihadi group.