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THERE WERE 11 arrests made in Ireland last year in connection with terror offences, with three of those related to Islamic terrorism.
The remaining eight arrests were connected to republican activities, which is down from 16 the previous year.
That’s according to a new report from Europol, breaking down the current situation and trends in terrorism across the European Union.
It noted an increase in jihadist attacks but a “decrease in the sophistication of their preparation and execution”.
Overall, there 205 foiled, failed and completed terror attacks reported by nine EU member states. The vast majority were in the UK (107) with 54 also reported in France.
“Similar to 2016, nearly all reported fatalities and casualties were the result of jihadist terrorist attacks,” it said.
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Most terror arrests across the EU was jihadist-related, and successful attacks resulted in the deaths of 62 people.
While there were relatively few arrests for terror offences in Ireland, there were far more in Northern Ireland with 88 arrests, with 58 shootings and 30 bombing incidents cited.
It highlighted one case where a PSNI officer was shot in Belfast among five attacks against “national security targets”.
The report said: “Dissident republican terrorist groups opposed to the peace process remain the most significant threat to national security in Northern Ireland.
Apart from attacks on the security services, many dissident republicans are also heavily involved in criminal activities for personal gain, including smuggling and extortion.
Europol also noted that the number of people travelling to fight in Syria and Iraq has dropped considerably, as has the numbers returning from there.
As Islamic State gets weaker, it said, it’s been urging its followers to carry out “lone actor type attacks in their home countries”.
“This poses a significant challenge to the authorities in terms of setting up counter measures,” it added.
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Whatever happened to that Egyptian guy who murdered a Japanese national up in Dundalk? Media have gone very quiet on that front. I imagine if it was an Irish Republican who murdered a British national, it would be all over the airwaves constantly.
@Mack: ssssssssshhhhh mack don’t ask questions the pc brigade don’t like that. He is not Irish therefore it doesn’t need to be reported on did you not know that, that’s the irish media way
@Brendan O’Brien: these enlightened folk get their up-to-date information from reputable fake news and alternative fact sites such as “the Liberal.ie”.
@Mack: sounds as though you’re looking for things to give out about. You obviously learned of the details through the reports at the time. Incident occurred (reported) person arrested (reported) person charged and in custody (reported) when it goes to trial I’m sure that’ll be reported on too varying in depth depending on the plea.. I would consider that a normal course of reporting and nothing sinister in it. What is it you are looking for just to be clear?
@Mack: Media very quiet.The question is how did he manage to get into England ? Can’t imagine he used the airport without id. Calais maybe ? Back of a truck through some port.
I suppose the authorities just welcome those returning from the middle east without a proper investigation as to what they did while waging their religious war!
@Brendan O’Brien: Those Al-Right types like “George Sturdy” just love to over inflate the threat, 1 terrorist subject becomes 100, our friend here seems to be following the likes of Ben Shapiro a bit too closely!
@George Sturdy: such whallop! 20,000 around the clock?? without havin to look up this lie, it is impossible that the Brit police have the numbers or resources to do this. go spout tripe some place else.
@George Sturdy: You really need to stop smoking what ever it is you smoke- your posts are nothing but uneducated parnoia and hate – it used to be mildly entertaining to read your rants, now that the novelty has worn off you are just tiresom -
@George Sturdy: Ah really man! If you’re gonna troll at least put some sort of effort in. To watch one suspect “around the clock” would take a minimum of 4 policemen on the 3 relief shift but that could only be for a very short time. Long term if they were doing nothing else more like 6 so that’s 120000 British police only working at that on your figure. I’m just gonna guess you made up that number. My God
There are 20,000 known extremists in the UK, of these 3,000 are seen as high-risk individuals (potential terrorists).
Authorities would like to monitor these 3,000 around-the-clock but don’t have the resources to do this therefore they have to focus on those considered most dangerous (2017 figures).
@Walt Jabsco: that’s a far cry from what George stated Walt. No denying there’s a problem there and it’s a scary one. But exaggerating figures so blatantly only serves to make people throw their eyes up and ignore. Facts are important. Communities have to work together to solve this. As you said the British police cannot monitor the 3000 dangerous ones. The Muslim community needs to be included to give information on people in their circles they may think are being radicalized. There’s absolutely no point thinking it would be better if there were no Muslims here. It’s not going to happen so forget it and work within the realms of possibility for all our sakes.
They are merely following the teachings of the Quran ISIS and it’s strength is
Largely irrelevant in terms of attacks on European soil. We have bore witness to an attack here, we still don’t know his name, we can’t undoubtedly identify where he came from, he’s now doing finger painting in a psychiatric ward.
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