The terror threat level in the UK is expected to remain at severe for at least the next five years, Scotland Yard's seniormost Indian-origin counter-terrorism officer has warned.
Metropolitan Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu said the threat level, which indicates an attack in highly likely and is the second highest after critical - which indicates an attack is expected imminently, is unlikely to change as 600 counter-terrorism investigations remain active.
"It [terror threat level] is not going to change. This was truly a summer like no other, it was truly a shift and not a spike, it is truly a new norm that we face," he said, adding he expects the level to stay the same by the time he retires in 2022.
The UK has been on "severe" since 2014, with the level briefly even raised to "critical" earlier this year after an IS-claimed terrorist attack at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester in May which claimed 22 victims.
"The threat was the traveller or the returning fighter, who was battle-hardened and even angrier, but now it's the threat in our midst. There is also a definite problem in segregated and isolated communities and with what I think is an even more extreme second generation," said Basu, who serves as the Met Police's senior national coordinator for counter- terrorism policing.
In an address to the UK Police Superintendents' Association annual conference this week, Basu also warned that growing segregation among some communities in Britain was fuelling the trend of home-grown terrorism.
"Segregated, isolated communities, unregulated education and home schooling are a breeding ground for extremists and future terrorists," he said.
Basu flagged radicalisation via social media as a continued concern.
"It's no surprise to me that social media has meant we have got a younger cohort. We have all seen how slick it [online Islamist propaganda] is," he said.
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