The UK’s counter-terror police chief has warned of an “unprecedented” rise in terrorism and “state threats” which are now the “most acute threat since the Cold War.”
Met Police assistant commissioner Matt Jukes said there has been a rise in terrorism threats since the Israel-Gaza war started and it’s “hard to remember a more unstable, dangerous and uncertain world.”
Jukes said the conflict in Gaza has become a “radicalisation moment” and there has been a 25% rise in intelligence coming into the counter terror police which is a “significant increase on our usual levels.”
Speaking at a briefing Jukes told journalists, “In simple terms, that means more intelligence about potential terrorism and violent extremism, flowing through our systems than in recent years, from online reports, public reports and from MI5.
“It’s hard to remember a more unstable, dangerous and uncertain world. I have not seen the conditions collide in the way we have in the last months during my tenure.
“The speed and the scale of the impact of global events are extraordinary, even in the context of our experience.
“If events happen around the world, they will invariably pull a thread in the UK, and particularly in its very diverse city communities, but what we have seen clearly is fear, anxiety, uncertainty, a whole range of very significant reactions amongst UK communities.”
He warned Britain faces its most “acute threat” of spying and hostile foreign interference since the Cold War due to the “triple threat” of Russia, Iran and China.
Jukes said, “I think the whole environment is very different, probably the most acute picture of threat around espionage and foreign interference, these state threats, the most acute threat since the Cold War.”
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