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| UK terrorist arrests hit record high | |
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| A record number of terrorist arrests were made in the last year, according to official figures, surpassing the previous peak following the 7 July London bombings. | |
| There were 299 arrests for terrorism-related offences in the year to March 2015, a rise of 31% compared on the previous year and the highest number since data collection began in September 2001, Home Office data revealed. Of the 299 people arrested, 118 were charged with an offence. | |
| Within the period, a record number of women arrested for terrorism-related offences was recorded at 35; the number of 18- to 20-year-olds arrested more than doubled, from 20 to 43 arrests. | |
| There was also a rise in the number of suspects held for more than seven days. About 21 people arrested under section 41 of the Terrorism Act, which allows the police to arrest and detain a person without charge for up to 48 hours and apply extended custody, were detained for more than a week, compared with just one person in the previous period. Of those arrested, 15 were charged. | |
| The increase came after the official threat level was raised in August from substantial to severe, meaning an attack is highly likely. | The increase came after the official threat level was raised in August from substantial to severe, meaning an attack is highly likely. |
| The threat level was heightened as hundreds of so-called foreign fighters were being lured to Iraq and Syria to fight with Islamic State. Police and security services now believe at least 700 potential extremists from the UK have travelled to Syria, with about half thought to have returned to Britain. | The threat level was heightened as hundreds of so-called foreign fighters were being lured to Iraq and Syria to fight with Islamic State. Police and security services now believe at least 700 potential extremists from the UK have travelled to Syria, with about half thought to have returned to Britain. |
| Home Office officials said the increase in arrests in the most recent period was driven by a surge in arrests between October and December last year - at 106. This compares to 67 arrests between January and March. | |
| The previous high of 284 arrests was recorded in the year to March 2006, covering the London bomb attacks in 2005, in which 52 people were killed and more than 700 were injured. | |
| However, it is likely that the volume of terrorism arrests has risen further since the period covered by the statistics. Last month, Mark Rowley, the country’s leading counter-terrorism officer, disclosed that suspects were now being held at a rate of more than one a day. | |
| Among those arrested, 78% considered themselves British or dual-British nationality, compared with only 52% of suspects in the year ending March 2011. | |
| The batch of figures also show there were nearly 32,000 searches carried out using the controversial Schedule 7 powers under the Terrorism Act, which allows police officers to detain without reasonable cause for suspicion. However, this was a fall of 28% on the previous year. The legislation was used to detain David Miranda, the partner of the former Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald, for nine hours at Heathrow in August 2013. |