Government legislation targets bomb-making materials

The UK Government has laid secondary legislation intended to tighten controls on poisons and chemicals which can be used to make explosives.

The changes are part of updates to the Poisons Act 1972.

The new measures include improving requirements for reporting of suspicious activity, adding new substances, providing additional obligations on online marketplaces, and requiring that certain information is recorded when selling regulated explosives precursors to business users. The changes will come into effect on 1 October.

The Home Office said: "Following the Manchester Arena attack in 2017, the government committed to enhancing its capabilities to detect terrorist activity including that which involves the use of bomb making materials."

New chemicals are set to be added to the lists of reportable and regulated substances, which is intended to prevent access to materials of the highest concern for illicit purposes, but also maintain access for legitimate purposes.

Security Minister Tom Tugendhat said: "Around the UK, businesses and individuals use various chemicals for a wide range of legitimate uses. However, we must also minimise the risk posed by the illicit use of bomb making materials and poisons.

"It is our responsibility to ensure our robust controls of these substances are updated and controls in place against those who wish to abuse them. These steps will do just that."

Head of Counter-Terrorism Policing Matt Jukes added: "Every year, reports from the public, including industry and businesses, play a vital role in how we tackle the terrorist threat in the UK.

"These new measures will serve to enhance how we received information and intelligence from our communities and also enable us to take targeted and robust enforcement action to keep people safe."

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