Security Services Monitoring 'thousands' Of Terrorism Suspects In London, Says Boris Johnson

[Purveyor]

By Gordon Rayner and Gaby Wood

10:00PM BST 10 Oct 2014

The security services are monitoring “thousands” of terrorist suspects in London, Boris Johnson has disclosed, suggesting the threat from Islamist extremists may be far greater than has previously been admitted.

Until now, it was thought that the main danger came from around 500 jihadis who have travelled to Syria and Iraq from the UK to join Isil or al-Qaeda fighters, around half of whom have returned to Britain.

But the Mayor of London suggested the threat from home-grown terrorist plots was far more widespread than the relatively small numbers of extremists who have gone abroad to fight.

Speaking to The Telegraph, he said: “In London we’re very very vigilant and very very concerned. Every day – as you saw recently, we had to raise the threat level – every day the security services are involved in thousands of operations.

“There are probably in the low thousands of people that we are monitoring in London.”

more...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/terrorism-in-the-uk/11154733/Security-services-monitoring-thousands-of-terrorism-suspects-in-London-says-Boris-Johnson.html

It will take a domestic terror attack before the public will support 'troops on the ground'. Just saying...

[muriel_volestrangler]

1. Suggesting they have thousands of phone taps in London

because we know they can get away with that. That doesn't mean they're a threat; nor, for that matter, that they are Islamists. MI5 frequently considers environmental protesters as 'terrorist suspects'. They've been monitoring hundreds of them for years, with expensive methods like undercover policemen (who have a tendency to sleep with them to blend in). Recording someone's phone calls is cheap as chips. The number of people they do it to bears no relation to the threat they might pose.