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School massacre plots were thwarted in Britain, according to counterterrorism police

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school massacre plots that were motivated by US rampages has been thwarted by the british police, according to the nation’s top counterterrorism official.

Head of counter-terrorism policing Matt Jukes issued a warning that more and more material shared by young people online glorifies school shootings.

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The police terrorist hotline has received hundreds of reports about potential school attacks, a “toxic” trend Mr. Jukes claimed was fueled by “the visibility of attacks in the US.”

The police chief also revealed that eight “late stage” terror plots were thwarted last year, several of which were “close calls” that he described as “goal-line saves” while speaking at a Scotland Yard briefing about threats facing the UK.

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When asked by The Telegraph if police had foiled any recent plans for school shootings, Mr. Jukes responded, “Absolutely. There have definitely been instances where we have stepped in to help young people avoid potentially carrying out attacks during their time in school.

Actual threat

“It is a real threat that we have observed in specific cases; it is not a hypothetical threat.”

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He continued by saying that because cases were still pending, it was not possible to disclose the specifics of the attacks that were prevented.

Mr. Jukes also cautioned that the “violent misogyny” advocated by figures like Andrew Tate ran the risk of encouraging more young men to turn to terrorism.

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It was claimed that misogyny was a common trait among all types of terrorists, including Islamist, far-Right, and incel extremists.

The counter-terror chief responded that he was “concerned about anyone who advocates violent misogyny” when asked specifically about Tate, who is being investigated in Romania over claims of sexual assault and exploitation.

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Men predominate in our terrorist casework, and young men and boys are showing up more frequently, he continued, so anything that introduces that kind of toxicity must be of concern to counterterrorism policing.

Teenage criminals

Unsettling new statistics show that suspects under the age of 18 now account for one-fifth of all terrorism arrests, and police have looked into people as young as 13.

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While no one was killed or seriously hurt in a terror attack in 2018—the first year since 2016—there are still 800 ongoing inquiries, and 5,000 pieces of extremist content will be taken down from the internet by 2022.

The eight near-miss plots that were foiled by authorities reportedly involved would-be assailants who had chosen their targets and were assembling weapons.

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When several high-risk terrorists are released from prison in 2023—on average, one terrorist prisoner is released every week—the threat to the public is expected to grow.

According to Mr. Jukes, those scheduled to be released from prison include “persons who have been convicted of very serious offenses in the 2000s, persons who have served over a decade in prison.”
Although combating terrorism remains the “majority” focus, the police chief said that due to the variety of threats now faced in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, combating hostile state activity was a “growing part” of the work for counter-terror police.

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They include 15 Iranian plots to kill or kidnap people on British soil that have been discovered since January 2022, as well as so-called overseas police stations that the Chinese government secretly established in Britain to intimidate the diaspora.

British police have been gathering evidence of possible war crimes to give to the International Criminal Court as the conflict in Ukraine nears the end of its first year.

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According to Mr. Jukes, there have been 100 reports about possible war crimes in Ukraine so far from people all over the UK.

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