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August 9, 2006

UK: Islamic Terrorism Swallows Bulk Of MI5 Budget

On July 4, we wrote of the increased burden of investigating Islamic terrorism, which was taking up the bulk of MI5's time. MI5, the homeland security and intelligence agency for Britain, was then investigating 1,200 Islamist terror suspects. These were drawn from a larger pool of 400,000 extremist "sympathisers". The extra burden had caused the organisation to double its staff to 3,500.

Now, news from the Times reports that a record amount of the intelligence agency's annual budget of £200 million ($381.62 million) is being allocated to such cases.

The agency, headed by Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller (pictured), has recently switched £16 million ($30.53 million) of its budget to counter-terrorism operations and protective security, bringing its total spend on such work to 87% or £174 million ($332 million) per year.

6% is spent on counter-espionage - £12 million ($22.89 million)
4% on external assistance - £8 million ($15.26 million)
2.5% on counter-proliferation - £5 million ($9.54 million)
0.5% on emerging terrorism and other threats - £1 million ($1.9 million).

There have been at least 13 international terrorist plots which have been foiled by the agency since 2000. One of these was from November 2000, with four in 2003, two in 2002, four in 2005 and two this year, which were foiled in May and June (and did not include the Forest Gate raid of June 2).

On May 24, eight Libyans were arrested, mainly from Manchester, who were plotting suicide attacks in Iraq. They were connected with businesses and charities, including the Sanabel Relief Agency, which had been designated by the US on 8 February, with some of its trustees. The arrested men were said to be front men for the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG).

In June, four individuals were arrested for suspicion of involvement with an al-Qaeda terror cell in Canada. We reported on June 14 the arrest of two individuals from Yorkshire. One man, Aabid Khan, had been arrested at Manchester Airport on June 6, and a 16 year old youth was arrested in Dewsbury. On June 20, two more were arrested in London. Khan, the youth and one other began trial on June 30.

Two more cases arising from suspected plots will be placed before the courts later this year or in early 2007.

In May this year, the newly-appointed Home Secretary, John Reid announced that there were twenty "major conspiracies" which were currently being investigated by the security services.

Today he will be making a speech at the Demos think-tank, to say that though there is 100% dedication on the part of security agencies to combat terrorism, they cannot be able to ensure 100% protection against terrorism.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner at Scotland Yard, Peter Clarke, said in July that his police officers are currently engaged in the investigation of 70 terror plots in Britain and abroad. He claims that the majority of these investigations "relate to the activities of British citizens against their fellow countrymen".

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at August 9, 2006 8:03 AM

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