As the SAS is reportedly given free rein in Syria, the former head of Scotland Yard’s counter-terrorism unit says Britain should put home grown extremists on charter flights to Islamic State territory rather than let them ‘fester’ at home.
Robert Quick, who held
the rank of assistant commissioner at Scotland Yard, said those
who wished to go and wage jihad should be made to surrender their
passports and never return.
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“You have to think how do you confront it, if you have
hundreds or thousands who want to go there and live that
life?” Quick, who was head of counter-terrorism 2008-2009,
told the Guardian.
“We should try and convince them not to go. If they want to
go, you have to ask the question, are we better off, if they
surrender their passports and go? It’s better than them festering
away here.
“Should we say we’ll lay on charter flights to Syria; turn up
with your passport and if you are over 18, if this is the life
you want, then go?” he added.
His comments come as Andrew Parker, the director general of
domestic spy agency MI5, warned of the “societal and security
challenge” which extremists pose to the UK.
Parker told the Times the agency “simply can’t find and stop
every terrorist plot.”
He said violent acts like the 7/7 London bombings “are
attempted by individuals who have grown up here but decided for
whatever twisted reasons to identify their own country as the
enemy.”
As well as the police and intelligence response, the military may
also be reorienting itself to fight Islamic State (IS, formerly
ISIS/ISIL) in Syria.
READ MORE: Al-Qaeda cleric linked to Tunisian
terror attack living in UK on benefits – report
Amid discussion of extending UK bombing into Syria in the wake of
the Tunisian attacks which claimed 30 British lives, UK Special
Forces are said to have been given free rein to operate in
IS-held territory.
Units like the army’s SAS and the Royal Marines’ Special Boat
Service (SBS) may be used to call in airstrikes on command and
control infrastructure in Syria and carry out battle damage
assessments afterwards.
The Sunday Times quoted an anonymous intelligence source as
saying “the SAS have been pushing to be more proactive for
quite a while.
“In the past couple of years they have planned a number of
operations in Syria when the chemical weapon threat was high, but
the missions were vetoed at the highest level because of the
risks involved.
“The Tunisian attack has led to a rethink and has speeded up
the inevitable use of SF [Special Forces] against Islamic
State.”