7/7 Met Police officer calls for internment of Islamic extremists

Tarique Ghaffur, an Assistant Commissioner at Scotland Yard at the the 7/7 bombings, has called for the internment of radical extremists.

Mr Ghaffur, an Asian Mancunian who was the security coordinator for  the 2012 Olympics, said Britain is facing an unprecedented threat.

“About 3,000 extremists are subjects of interest to MI5 and police, and about 500 plots are being monitored,” he warned in an article in the Mail on Sunday.

With an additional 400 jihadis having returned from Syria, he said the numbers were far too great for them to be monitored by the police and security services.

“The time has come to set up special centres to detain these 3,000 extremists.,” he added.

They should be held in what Mr Ghaffur described as community-based centres, where they would be risk assessed and put through a deradicalisation programme.

These centres would be different from the internment camps set up during the Troubles in Northern Ireland.

Mr Ghaffur said that they would have the backing of Muslim leaders.

He also urged imams to issue what he described as a collective fatwa condemning terrorist atrocities.

“This would also show that Muslim leaders are doing something to make the UK safe and not just delivering words,” he added.

“I know many will oppose these centres as oppressive. But the threat we face from terrorism is unprecedented and if we do not take bold steps now we will not be able to prevent future attacks.”

As a further safeguard, Mr Ghaffur called for the re-vetting of extremist asylum seekers who, if they were deemed to be a threat, should be expelled.

“We have never faced a terrorism threat like this. So let us have a proper national debate and not be afraid to speak openly for fear of offending any communities, or for the sake of political correctness.”