HOME SECRETARY May is set to bring in special measures to deal with British terrorists returning from Syria and Iraq, where they were allowed to go to fight President Assad with the tacit encouragement of her government and its security forces.
She wrote in Saturday’s Daily Telegraph: ‘I have toughened the rules regarding the use of the Royal Prerogative, which allows the government to remove the passports of British citizens who want to travel abroad to engage in terrorism.
‘So far, 23 people who were planning to travel to Syria have had their passports withdrawn in this way.’
She added: ‘We are working very closely with other European countries to disrupt and prevent travel to the region. . .
‘People who insist on travelling to fight in Syria and Iraq will be investigated by the police and security services. For those who have dual nationality, I have the power to strip them of their citizenship and exclude them from the country . . . while it is illegal for any country to make its citizens stateless, any British national who returns from Syria and Iraq faces prosecution here for participating in terrorist activities abroad.’
She also announced a series of catch-all measures to be carried out by the state that will allow it to attack a large number of organisations and people.
She writes: ‘In the Serious Crime Bill we intend to strengthen the law further to make it a criminal offence to travel overseas to prepare and train for terrorism.’
May continued: ‘Since I was made Home Secretary, I have constantly made the case for legislation to ensure the police and security services have access to the communications data they need, for example . . . I am looking again at the case for new banning orders for extremist groups that fall short of the legal threshold for terrorist proscription, as well as for new civil powers to target extremists who seek to radicalise others.’
She ended her announcement by stating: ‘We will be engaged in this struggle for many years, probably decades. We must give ourselves all the legal powers we need to prevail.’
Meanwhile the FBI is being brought in to control anti-terrorist activities at UK airports,
Three US officers from a specialist FBI counter-terror unit are expected to land at Heathrow tomorrow, with another ten arriving within the week and dozens more over coming months.
They will monitor suspect passengers as well as look into ‘terror hot-spots’ across Britain. US FBI agents will liaise with the Metropolitan Police’s secretive SO15 counter-terrorism command and MI5.
The FBI is to be allowed to conduct its own investigations and will recruit its own informants in UK and European jihadi circles, since it is not prepared to place its confidence in the British security forces.
