Woman arrested at Luton airport on suspicion of terror offences
|
Version 0 of 1. A woman has been arrested at Luton airport on suspicion of Syria-related terror offences. Detectives from the West Midlands counter-terrorism unit detained the 25-year-old as she left a flight that had returned to the UK from Istanbul in Turkey. The woman, from Haringey in London, was arrested at around 11.30am as part of a continuing intelligence-led policing operation. The woman is being held at a police station in the West Midlands on suspicion of preparing for acts of terrorism. The terror threat level in the UK was raised from substantial to severe earlier this year against a backdrop of increasing concerns over hundreds of aspiring British jihadis travelling to Iraq and Syria to learn terrorist ”tradecraft”. Fears of a terrorist attack on Britain’s streets have heightened in the wake of the rise of Islamic State, the extremist group that has taken over large swaths of Iraq and Syria and attracted thousands of foreign jihadists to its cause, including more than 500 Britons. A new counter-terrorism and security bill, containing a range of draconian powers including new orders that can block suspected British fighters from returning to the UK, was introduced to parliament this year. |