News Digest

'Five Britons a week joining IS as jihadists', says UK police chief

At least five Britons a week are travelling to Iraq and Syria to fight for Islamic State, according to the UK’s most senior police officer. The stark warning by Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe that returning fighters posed a terrorist threat, came as it emerged a third man from Portsmouth had been killed in Syria. Manunur Roshid, 24, was one of five friends who travelled to the war-torn country in October last year. And the revelation by Hogan-Howe indicates their number continues to swell.

We know that over 500 British nationals travelled to join the conflict. Many have returned and many will wish to do so in the coming months, and perhaps in future years. We still have an average of five people joining them a week.

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe

"There may be many more who set out to travel to another country and meandered over to Syria and Iraq in a way that is not always possible to spot when you have failed states and leaky borders," he said. And Hogan-Howe added the return of "potentially militarised individuals" to the streets of the UK "is a risk to our communities". He backed plans revealed by the government last month to give authorities the ability to seize the passports of those they suspect of travelling abroad to fight with terror groups at the border. The Metropolitan Police have made 218 arrests for terrorist-related activity so far this year—an increase of around 70 per cent compared to three years ago. Police and partner agencies are disrupting several terrorist plots each year, including at least one "major" conspiracy every year since 2001, Hogan-Howe said.

Five a week doesn’t sound much but when you realise there are 50 weeks in a year, 250 more would be 50 per cent more than we think have gone already. Those numbers are a minimum. Those are the ones that we believe have gone.

Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe