UK security threats mean terror arrests soar

304 terror arrests have been made in the 12 months leading up to March, the highest level since figures began in 2001, Home Office statistics reveal. Home Office statisticians said the increase, which was at the highest level since 9/11, was driven by a 66 per cent rise in the number of white suspects arrested, up to 113 in the 12 months to March compared with 68 the year before. The figures include the 12 people arrested in connection with the March Westminster attack, but excludes those detained in connection with the Manchester and London Bridge attacks. Figures show that police and MI5 are conducting 500 investigations involving 3,000 suspects at any one time. Additionally, there are 20,000 former ‘subjects of interest’ who they say they need to keep monitoring. The number of terrorism-related arrests is an 18 per cent increase compared with the 258 arrests made in the 12 months to March 2016 and is the record high for any financial year since data collection began in September 2001. The quarterly figures also show that beginning 31 March, there were 186 imprisonments for terrorism-related offences and domestic extremism, which is 15 per cent higher than the previous year.