Tag Archives: ISIS

News, Opinion

Former Scotland Yard Chief: Police Cuts Will Make An Isis Attack In UK Easier

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The government’s planned large budget cuts to the police in the UK will make it easier for Islamic State to stage a terrorist attack, Britain’s former head of counter-terrorism has warned.

Former Scotland Yard chief Robert Quick told the Guardian that the supply of intelligence from communities that identifies suspects and stops violent extremists inflicting carnage also risks being choked off.

“It will make Britain more vulnerable to terrorism. It will damage the police’s ability to counter terrorism if neighbourhood policing is cut. It will lead to a loss of intelligence, a loss of confidence and trust,” Quick said.

As Scotland Yard’s Assistant Commissioner, Quick was head of counter-terrorism for the UK from 2008 to 2009.

His comments came as Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn called for cuts to the police budget to be limited to 5%, with police chiefs braced for the Conservatives to inflict cuts of at least 25%.

Since the Paris atrocities police chiefs have intensified their lobbying over the planned cuts, arguing that they would lead to a large loss of community officers, and the intelligence they generate from the public.

Read more in The Guardian.

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Australian Federal Police Tracking Pilots Influenced By ISIS Jihadists

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Australian Federal Police are monitoring two Indonesian pilots who appear to have been influenced by pro-Islamic State elements, on concerns they may pose a security threat, an intelligence website says.

The apparent radicalisation of Ridwan Agustin, alias Hobi Panahan, and Tommy Hendratno, alias Tomi Abu Alfatih, was detailed in a March 18 operational intelligence report compiled by the AFP and obtained by website The Intercept.

The AFP report – marked “for official use only” – analyses Facebook posts by the two pilots that appear to support IS.

The Intercept reports that Agustin formerly worked for AirAsia Indonesia, while Premiair says Hendratno ceased working for them on June 1.

Agustin graduated from the AirAsia academy in 2010 and flew international and domestic routes, the intelligence report states.

He began posting material indicating his support for IS from September 2014 – posts which Hendratno “liked”.

The AFP also noted that Agustin had commented on the page of Heri Kustyanto, who it’s believed left his Indonesian family to fight with IS in Syria or Iraq.


Read more on News.com.

Source: www.news.com.au

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Remembering the 7/7 Terror Attack That Shattered London’s Peace

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Ten years on, to fully comprehend the shock of 7/7 on Britain, the wound it inflicted on the country’s psyche, you’ve got to remember the context.

In July 2005 the G8 summit had just opened in Gleneagles in Scotland, and the British government had promised historic help for struggling African nations – a global call to action against poverty.

Hundreds of thousands joined the Make Poverty History marches. In Hyde Park, the optimism-fest Live 8 concert was beamed (it was claimed) to two billion people around the world.

U2 played Beautiful Day. Coldplay followed, and Gwyneth Paltrow sat with adorable baby Apple in the front row as Chris Martin played Bittersweet Symphony with Richard Ashcroft.

There was Elton John, Bill Gates, Dido, REM, Brad Pitt, Madonna, Sting, The Who, Pink Floyd.

At the end, Paul McCartney led 200,000 people in Hey Jude, taking a sad song and making it better.

To top it all off, London won the right to host the 2012 Olympic games.

An almost dreamlike haze of euphoria swept the city. 

And the next day this summer of love was torn apart by hate…


Read the full article in The Age.

Source: www.theage.com.au

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New EuroPol Police Team To Hunt Down, Block ISIS Social Media Accounts

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A Europe-wide police team is being formed to track and block social media accounts linked to Islamic State (IS).
A recent US study found there were at least 46,000 accounts on Twitter linked to the militant group, many of which help to recruit new IS members.
The European police agency Europol will now work with unnamed social media companies to track the accounts.
They aim to get new accounts closed down within two hours of them being set up.
Europol believes up to 5,000 EU citizens, including people from the UK, France, Belgium and the Netherlands, have travelled to territories controlled by IS.
Rob Wainwright, Europol’s director, told the Guardian that the remit of the new team, which starts its work on 1 July, would be to “identify the ringleaders online”.
But, he said, tracking all IS-linked social media accounts was too big a task.
Analysts at the Brookings Institution in Washington say the number of IS-linked Twitter accounts could even be as high as 90,000.

Source: www.maltatoday.com.mt

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AFP Suspects Notorious Prayer Group Al-Furqan Facilitating Extremism And Links To ISIS

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Counter-terrorism police suspect a notorious prayer group is a hotbed of extremism and its leadership is involved in radicalising Islamic youth.

The Australian Federal Police suspects that “a number of Victorian foreign fighters” living with extremists in the Middle East were once attendees of the Al-Furqan prayer centre in Springvale South.

In documents released by the Supreme Court detailing an alleged plot by two of the centre’s members, the officers detail the centre’s leadership were “exponents of Islamic extremism” and a “facilitator of radicalisation”.

Read more in the Herald Sun.

Source: www.heraldsun.com.au

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Australia To Introduce Counter-Terrorism Citizenship Changes

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Australia is set to introduce new counter-terrorism laws, Prime Minister Tony Abbott said Sunday, with the package expected to include stripping dual nationals who are linked to terrorism of their citizenship.

Abbott said in a video message earlier Sunday that “at least 250 Australians, some very young, have become ensnared in the evil ideology of the Daesh (IS) death cult”, but did not elaborate on the nature of their alleged involvement. He added that domestic spy agency ASIO had “over 400 priority counter-terrorism investigations”.

Australia has already introduced a series of national security measures over the past few months. They include criminalising travel to terror hotspots and requiring telecommunications firms to retain customers’ digital data for two years.

Read the full story on 7 News.

Source: au.news.yahoo.com

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Harper Announces More Anti-Terrorism Funding for RCMP and Border Services

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Prime Minister Stephen Harper says there is “no legitimate reason of any kind” for any Canadian to become involved in jihadist or terrorist movements.

Harper was in Montreal on Thursday to announce additional resources for the RCMP and the Canada Border Services Agency in the fight against terrorism.

The RCMP will receive $150.4 million in new money over five years, beginning in 2015-16, and $46.8 million a year after, with the money going to help the Mounties conduct terrorism-related criminal investigations.

The border-services agency will get $5.4 million over five years and $1.1 million annually in subsequent years, with some of the funds earmarked for identifying high-risk travellers. Read more in the National Post.

Source: news.nationalpost.com

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No ISIS Link To Canberra Teen’s Facebook Hack: Police

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A Canberra mother’s claims her teenager’s Facebook account had been hacked by a member of Islamic State proved a false alarm, police say. An ACT Policing spokesman confirmed on Friday there was no link to Islamic State and the matter had been closed.

Source: www.canberratimes.com.au

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Concerns ISIS Recruiters Using Facebook To Target Aussie Children

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Parents are being urged to keep an eye on their children’s social media after a mother raised concerns her son’s Facebook account was hacked by an Islamic State recruiter. “We have the police involved but the owner of the Facebook page is clearly recruiting for war,” she said. Read more.

Source: www.perthnow.com.au

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Royal Canadian Mounted Police Nab Ten Youths Trying To Join ISIS

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Canadian police arrested 10 youths at Montreal’s Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport last weekend who are suspected of wanting to go to Iraq and Syria to join the Islamic State group, a government official said Tuesday.
The official confirmed the arrests late Tuesday, but did not have any other details. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk about the case.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police later issued a statement confirming that 10 young Montreal residents had been arrested at the airport…

Source: rudaw.net