Evening Standard/London

Syria related terror arrests have increased six-fold since last year, new figures have revealed.
Police made a total of 165 arrests across the country for offences such as terrorist financing, commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism, and attending a terrhttp://172.17.99.108/newspress/app/themes/Gray/images/original_text_size.pngorist training camp, Scotland Yard said. This compares to 25 Syria-related arrests in 2013.
The number of arrests for terrorist offences totalled 327 in 2014, a 32% increase compared with the previous year.
Senior national co-ordinator for counter terrorism policing Helen Ball said: “Last year’s arrest figures demonstrate a considerable increase in volume, range and pace of counter-terrorism activity in the UK.
“We have been running exceptionally high numbers of investigations, the likes of which we have not seen for many years.
“Several attack plots have been disrupted, of various sophistication, from individuals planning to carry out lone attacks to more complex conspiracies, the majority seemingly directed by or inspired by terrorism overseas.
“The partnership between police and MI5 is very effective, and we are experiencing very strong support from the communities.
“We will continue with this vital work to protect and work with the UK public to combat terrorism in all its forms.”
The terror threat level in the UK was raised from substantial to severe last August against a backdrop of increasing concerns over hundreds of aspiring British jihadis travelling to Syria and Iraq to learn terrorist “tradecraft”.
Fears of a terrorist attack on Britain’s streets have heightened in the wake of the rise of Islamic State (IS), the extremist group that has taken over large swathes of Iraq and Syria and attracted thousands of foreign jihadists to its cause, including more than 500 Britons.
A new counter-terrorism and security Bill, containing a range of draconian powers including new orders that can block suspected British fighters from returning to the UK, is passing through Parliament.
Last May, father of two Mashudur Choudhury became the first person in the UK to be convicted of terrorist offences in connection with the Syria conflict.
The 31-year-old went to the Middle Eastern country with the intention of joining a terrorist training camp last October.
A group of men have been served with a three-year Asbo for threatening violence during rallies in central London.
A judge at the Old Bailey restricted what they were allowed to do when attending a Dawah - a public event where Islam is preached.
They were banned from being in groups of more than five people and those which are carrying a flag pole or burning items other than for smoking or to keep warm.
The Asbo comes after the men were all convicted of public order offences following disorder which broke out in London at a march in Edgware Road and a Dawah event in Oxford Street, in May 2013.
One of the group, Jordan Horner, 31, was already subject to an Asbo for taking part in vigilante patrols in east London calling for a Sharia State in the UK.
Judge Paul Worsley QC heard a day-long argument from lawyers for the men who suggested the Asbo would breach their right to religious expression.
But he ruled: “I am entirely satisfied that an order to limit the conduct of these defendants is appropriate in each case.”
He added: “They have demonstrated by their conduct in May 2013 that they are prepared to behave in a way which is wholly unacceptable and which involved violence or the threat of violence to members of the public who were going about their day to day activities in busy London streets such as Edgware Road and Oxford Street.”
The Asbo was handed down to Mirza Ali, 40, Kamran Khan, 30, Mohan Uddin, 37, Munim Abdul, 33, Jalal Ahmed, 26, Abu Aziz, 32, Yousaf Bashir, 34, Moshiur Rahman, 33, Qadeer Ahmed, 30, Naseer Khan, 30, Mohammed Alamgir, 35 and Horner.
London’s policing supremo is demanding an extra £20mn of police counter-terror funding to keep the public safe after a rift with the government over “penny-pinching” in the wake of the Paris attacks.
Deputy mayor Stephen Greenhalgh said that the money currently earmarked for counter-terrorism policing was “not enough” to cope with the increasing threat posed by returnees from the Syria conflict.