Thousands training as extremists
INTELLIGENCE chiefs believe as many as 5,000 radicalised Europeans may be fighting with jihadist groups in Iraq and Syria.
The stark warning from the EU’s law enforcement agency has raised concerns that they will return trained in the latest terrorist techniques.
Europol director Rob Wainwright said: “Stopping everything is very difficult.”
FIVE THOUSAND Europeans could have travelled abroad to become radicalised – and every one of them poses a terror threat to Britain.
Rob Wainwright, director of Europol, the EU’s law enforcement agency, said at least 2,500 and possibly up to 5,000 people had travelled from Europe to conflicts in Syria and Iraq.
Intelligence chiefs have warned that expat extremists pose a very real risk of sparking an atrocity similar to that seen in France, which claimed the lives of 17 people.
Last year it was estimated at least 250 British jihadists who have fought in war-torn Syria are feared to be back on the streets in the UK – posing a massive threat to security.
Counter- terrorism cops have confirmed around 500 British extremists have made the journey to the Middle East to fight.
Mr Wainwright’s revelation came as officials placed England and Wales on its highest state of alert. Security has been dramatically stepped up for police officers and the Jewish community amid fears of a terror attack.
MI5 agents are worried Islamist fanatics could try and copy the Paris attacks. Fears of similar carnage in the UK intensified on Thursday when Belgian commandos wiped out a would-be terror cell who were allegedly planning to abduct and behead a cop.
A similar threat has previously emerged against police officers in Birmingham.
Mr Wainwright warned the terror threat is very real. He said: “Stopping everything is very difficult. Containing the threat fully is very difficult, but I’m sure we will prevail, as we have against other forms of terrorism in the past.”