The number of arrests for terrorism- related offences has hit record levels in the UK, according to new official figures released here today, amid influence on its nationals, especially the youth, from the dreaded Islamic State.
In the year that ended in March this year, 299 terror suspects were detained — an increase of 31 per cent from the same period the previous year.
From those arrested, 100 were charged with a terror- related offence, UK Home Office said.
It marks the highest number since UK officials began collecting data on terror offences in September, 2001.
The previous peak of 284 occurred in 2005, the year of the July 7 attacks on london’s transport network.
Among those arrested, there was a “marked increase” in the number who considered themselves to be of British or British dual nationality, officials said.
In 2014-15, they accounted for more than three-quarters of those detained for terrorism-related offences, compared with 52 per cent in the year until March, 2011.
The Home Office statistical bulletin setting out the data said there had been fluctuations in the number of terrorism- related arrests since the attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York on September 11, 2001.