THE number of Islamic extremist security suspects in Britain has increased by 50 per cent since the deadly suicide bombings in London last year, The Observer newspaper said overnight.A senior intelligence source at the country's domestic spy agency MI5 was quoted as saying that they were targeting 800 such suspects before the bombings on July 7 last year, but that figure now stood at 1,200. In September 2001, the number of people deemed a "risk to national security" was 250, the newspaper said.
The unnamed MI5 source did not give a reason for the apparent rise in radicalisation but described the threat as "current, relentless and increasing".
| Sounds like a sober fellow at MI5, no doubt he'll get tossed. |
He was convicted by a British jury in 2003 after his trial heard he had called for the murder of all non-Muslims and justified the use of nuclear and chemical weapons. The newspaper said an order for his deportation was filed by the Home Office on March 30 but his lawyers have applied for his release on parole pending his removal.