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Terrorism-related arrests in the UK reach record high

Published on: 16 Jun 2017

The number of terrorism-related arrests has increased 18 per cent in 12 months.

As the UK's threat level remains at severe following recent terrorist attacks, the Home Office has released figures showing that terrorism-related arrests have reached levels.

According to the statistics, there were 304 terror arrests in the 12 months to March - that's the highest level since figures began in 2001. It's also an 18 per cent increase compared with the 258 arrests that were made in the 12 months to March 2016.

As of March 31st, there were 186 people in prison for terrorism-related offences and domestic extremism - an increase of 15 per cent compared to the previous year.

The figures include 12 people arrested in connection with the Westminster attack in March but did not include people detained in relation to the Manchester and London Bridge attacks.

In addition, recent figures from the security service show that police and MI5 are carrying out around 500 investigations involving up to 3,000 people at any given time. There are also some 20,000 former "subjects of interest", who they also need to keep under review.