Counter terrorism police expect uptick in children being radicalised over school holiday
More children could be radicalised online during the school holidays, with counter terrorism police expecting an uptick in cases they’ll need to investigate.
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An unprecedented joint warning was this week issued by the heads of the National Crime Agency, Counter Terrorism Policing and Britain’s spy agency - MI5 - telling parents to be vigilant, as young people spend more time on the internet.
One in five people arrested for terrorism offences in the UK are a child, with suspects as young as 12 being investigated.
It comes as LBC is told by one officer investigating online harms that he’s never seen anything like the current scale of harmful material being used to desensitise and draw children into criminality, often through group chats.
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The man, whose job in uncovering terror threats is so secretive we can’t share his true identity, said: “It’s far more widespread than we can even imagine. It’s horrific.
“The level of extreme violence that we see being routinely shared, mixed in with all of our usual content that we’ve always seen, we’re seeing horrific gore material, images that depict self-harm, antisemitism, racism, extreme misogyny and a massive increase in indecent images of children as well.
“We’ve seen people being sucked into these spaces and not realising the level of harm that it has and especially with what we’re seeing in com networks is that young people are harming themselves and committing acts of violence after being extorted and being bullied by these individuals online.”
So-called ‘Com Networks’ are group chats that often see young people being ‘dared’ to commit crimes, in order to gain notoriety among a group of online peers, where they might struggle to socialise in real life settings.
The head of the National Crime Agency raised a serious warning about them earlier in the year, describing them as ‘sadistic’ and one of the biggest emerging crime threats to the UK.
Graeme Biggar said they were being used for offenders to ‘collaborate or compete to cause harm, both on and offline’ through cybercrime, fraud, extremism and child sexual abuse.
The counter terrorism officer we spoke to said: “The internet has an amazing ability to bring people together but we have to be mindful that there will be people out there trying to exploit them.
“It’s got to be recognised that children will be going online a lot more and may be left alone by their parents. And we can be thinking that when they are in their bedroom on their laptops they’re safe.
“But the analogy I like to use is that if my child was to go out tomorrow evening with some friends I’d be clarifying exactly who he’s going with, where he’s going and what they’re up to and I think we have to take that same approach with our children online.
“When we send them off to the park we clarify those questions and it has to be the same for the internet.”
The Mayor of London has also raised concerns about young people being drawn into criminality over the school holidays, including by gangs.
Announcing new funding for a ‘Holiday Hope’ programme, which provides young people with activities and skills, Sir Sadiq Khan told LBC it will also take away some of the elements some criminals use to entice them in.
“We know gang leaders often are giving young people fried chicken or money for a meal to get them to join a gang.
“And it’s easier now to radicalise young people than ever before. In the olden days - when I was young - you had to be in a public place where it was very easy to surveil and catch the bad guy and put them behind bars.
“Now I could be in my bedroom or in my living room and be radicalised online.
“We’ve all got to be vigilant and we’ve got to keep young people busy with something to do like sports, dance or arts as well as something to aspire to do with role models and give them something to eat - it’s really important that we step in and support them.”
MI5’s Director General, Sir Ken McCallum, said: “In 2024 I said that 13% of all those investigated by MI5 for involvement in terrorism were under 18. That deeply concerning presence of young people in our casework continues to this day.
“In a few short clicks, young people can be speaking to dangerous radicalising terrorists online, consuming violent and extremist content. Terrorists who understand online culture are using slick propaganda to pull young people down a dangerous and potentially life-changing path.”