UK police, spies to get more teeth to tackle terror suspects

Britain's police and security services are to be given greater powers to tackle the threat posed by terror suspects, according to a media report.

Documents leaked to The Sunday Times show that the security services will be able to step in and disrupt plots earlier in order to prevent a terrorist attack.

The plan calls formore focus on "communities where the threat from terrorism and radicalisation is highest".

Details of the plans are contained in a 120-page draft of the UK government's counter-terrorism strategy due to be published in the next few weeks which promises a "step change in our domestic investigative capabilities".

As part of plans to be included in a new Counter-terrorism Bill, spies and police will have the authority to warn government departments, town hall chiefs and other devolved administrations about suspects on their radar before they are deemed dangerous enough to be placed under surveillance by MI5 Britain's internal security service.

It will also include "longer prison sentences" for those convicted of terrorist offences and more intensive monitoring when they leave jail, the newspaper reported.

The document also calls to: "Recruit and train over 1,900 additional staff across the security and intelligence agencies".

Britain's security service had faced criticism after mis-interpreting in the month before the Manchester Arena attack in May last year two "highly relevant" pieces of intelligence on Salman Abedi, the suicide bomber who went on to kill 22 people at the concert venue.

Pakistani-origin Khuram Butt, one of the three terrorists behind the attack on London Bridge in June last year which claimed eight lives, had been under investigation by MI5 but had escaped arrest.

The new strategy outlines plans to focus in future on those individuals who are vulnerable to radicalisation or who are (or have been) of interest to the police and the security and intelligence agencies due to their possible links to terrorist activities, but who are not currently the subject of any active investigations.

"By alerting a greater number of agencies to individuals of potential concern, we will improve our ability to assess the risk they pose," the strategy paper noted.

It warns that the threat of terrorism "is higher" than when the last counter-terrorism strategy was published in 2011 and a "change of approach" is required.