'Thousands' tracked in terror probe

12 April 2012

Police are trying to keep tabs on "thousands" of people in Britain who may be involved directly or indirectly with terrorism, one of the country's most senior anti-terror officers has disclosed.

Peter Clarke, head of Scotland Yard's Anti-Terrorist Branch, said Britain was facing an increasing homegrown extremist threat.

In an interview with the BBC, Mr Clarke refused to put an exact figure on the number of terror suspects operating within the UK, but gave a stark warning about the scale of the task facing Britain's security agencies.

The number of those involved across the spectrum of terrorism, from plotting or taking part in attacks to the provision of logistical and financial support or encouragement, ran into four figures, he said.

In the interview, for BBC Two programme Al-Qaeda - Time to Talk?, Mr Clarke was asked about the threat from al Qaida and Islamic extremism.

"What we've learnt since 9/11 is that the threat is not something that's simply coming from overseas into the United Kingdom," he said.

"What we've learned, and what we've seen all too graphically and all too murderously is that we have a threat which is being generated here within the United Kingdom."

Asked roughly how many people in the UK police were looking at in the belief that they may be involved directly or indirectly in terrorism, Mr Clarke said: "I don't want to go down the numbers game, I don't think it's helpful.

"All I can say is that our knowledge is increasing and certainly in terms of broad description, the numbers of people who we have to be interested in are into the thousands."

When pressed further on the figure, he added: "As I say, that includes a whole range of people, not just terrorists, not just attackers, but the people who might be tempted to support or encourage or to assist."

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