The number of teenagers being radicalised online into terrorist activity has risen five-fold in the past four years in a “contagion” of “real concern”, the country’s head of counter-terror policing warned on Thursday.
Assistant Commissioner Matt Jukes said some teenagers were downloading instructions for printing 3D firearms and bomb-making equipment in a “new and emerging threat” that risked bringing extremist violence to the streets.
He said other teenagers were facing the prospect of going to prison despite “not having left that bedroom” because of terrorist offences committed there online such as encouraging and inciting others to carry out extremist attacks.
His warning came as Mr Jukes also highlighted a threat to politicians and other public figures, saying that they were potential targets both for terrorist and hostile states, in a further illustration of the breadth of the terror threat facing the country.
“We have enduring threats from terrorism, we have new and emerging threats from hostile state actors, and we know that those who carry out democratic roles to represent their communities and to take leadership roles are of particular interest to both terrorists and hostile state actors,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
“So we have been working very hard with government, with parliament and with parliamentarians so that we can promote their safety.”
But the main focus of Mr Jukes’ comments on Thursday was on the growing danger posed by teenage online extremism.
“It’s a real concern, it’s a contagion of sorts,” he said. “What we have seen is an increase which is stark - a five-fold increase since 2019 in the number of under 18-year-olds involved in our counter-terrorism casework and so much of it driven by online content.
“The really remarkable thing is you can find yourself with a prison sentence not having left that bedroom because of encouraging, inciting, sharing information, downloading bomb instructions and encouraging other people to take part in acts of violence and sadly we are seeing more of this translate into real threats of violence on the streets.
“We have seen in recent casework not just the downloading and sharing things like bomb making instructions and other material which might inform terrorists, but the downloading of instructions for 3D printed firearms, for building items themselves.
“You can see in some of our casework people purchasing precursor chemicals online and we have seen hostile reconnaissance of potential targets. We know that the driving threat here is online, but we also can see in our casework that for younger people than ever before that’s translating into them into carrying out acts of terrorism. This is a new and emerging threat which should concern us all.”
Mr Jukes’ remarks came as an updated version of the government’s annual National Risk Register published today listed the assassination of a high-profile public figure as among the threats with the highest likelihood of occurring.
Other threats listed in the same category – which covers risks deemed to have a 25 per cent or more probability of occurring - include the danger of an international terrorist attack or a terror attack in a public space or venue, as well as a “technological failure” in part of the UK’s “critical financial market infrastructure”, a “major outbreak of plant pest” or an “attack on a UK ally or partner outside NATO or a mutual security agreement requiring international assistance.”
