The number of suspects arrested in terrorism investigations has reached a record high, official figures reveal.
A total of 400 people were held for terror-related offences in Britain in the year to the end of September, the highest tally since data collection started in 2001 and a jump of 54% compared to last year.
The 400 total includes 12 arrests made in connection with the Westminster attack, 23 after Manchester, 21 after London Bridge and one after the Finsbury Park attack,
It was also revealed that 58 of those held were female – the highest number on record.
Anti-terror police take down a suspect in east London during the London Bridge attack probe. Figures released today show UK police arrested a record 400 terror suspects in the last year
A Home Office statistical bulletin said: ‘As a result, the number of arrests in the year to 30 September 2017 was the highest since the data collection began.’
Just under a third of those arrested, 115 people, were later charged, with the vast majority of those charged with terrorism-related offences.
More than 200 of those arrested were were released without charge, 60 were released on bail pending further investigation and 11 faced so-called ‘alternative action’.
The increase includes a 77% rise in the number of white suspects held, from 81 to 143.
Earlier this week, a report revealed that counter-terror teams are currently running about 500 live investigations involving 3,000 individuals at any one time, while there is also a wider pool of 20,000 subjects of previous probes.
In a briefing given to the Cabinet on Tuesday, the head of MI5 Andrew Parker revealed that total of nine Islamist terrorist plots have been thwarted in the UK over the past year.
21 arrests were made after the London Bridge attack, a month after the Manchester bombing
Two men appeared in court yesterday after security services said they interrupted an alleged plan to blow up the gates to Downing Street and assassinate Prime Minister Theresa May.
Accusations also emerged yesterday, in a separate case, that an alleged extremist encouraged followers to attack Prince George at his primary school. He too faces court action.
An official report earlier this week found that spies missed crucial opportunities to thwart the Manchester terror attack which cost 22 lives.
UK counter-terrorism officials might have prevented suicide bomber Salman Abedi blowing himself up at a pop concert if intelligence had been given greater priority.
Home Secretary Amber Rudd told the Commons that the jihadist atrocity on May 22, which left adults and children dead, could have been avoided ‘had the cards fallen differently’.
Meanwhile, it was also revealed that the ringleader of the Islamist terror gang which brought bloodshed to central London on June 3 was being investigated by MI5 and police for his extremist views.
Khuram Butt and his two accomplices in the London Bridge attacks were shot dead by armed police. A review earlier this week found he was being investigated at the time of the attack
Khuram Butt – one of three men who slaughtered eight people in a van and knife rampage – had been on the authorities’ radar for two years because of concerns he wanted to attack the UK.
Despite the findings, David Anderson QC, a former anti-terror laws watchdog who examined the four main attacks of the summer, said: ‘The excellent recent record of MI5 and the police in defending the UK from terrorist attack came to a brutal end this year.
‘Despite elevated threat levels, the fundamentals are sound and the great majority of attacks continue to be thwarted.’
Mr Anderson said: ‘In particular, MI5 and the police have identified the need to use data more effectively, to share knowledge more widely, to improve their own collaboration and to assess and investigate terrorist threats on a uniform basis, whatever the ideology that inspires them.’