Patrick Christys: I’m sick and tired of terrorists being ‘known to authorities’

I’m sick and tired of terrorists being ‘known to authorities’

It seems to happen pretty much all the time. I think we need to get tougher - should we reintroduce the death penalty for terrorists who plot to kill?

The rogue gallery of murderous Islamist extremists who were supposedly under observation or, at the very least, had been flagged to the attention of our security services makes for grim reading.

I’m not blaming our security services, they stop a load of attacks that we’ll never know about and I’ve got no doubt that they’re working flat out to keep us safe.

What I’m angry about, is that I don’t think we’re being told the truth about the scale of the problem when it comes to Islamist terrorists in the UK. I think they don’t want to scare us, I think they don’t want to whip up racial tensions. But in reality, there are too many Islamist terrorists for us to keep track of.

The latest Islamist to go on to commit an attack having slipped through the net is Malik Faisal Akram, who took hostages at a synagogue in Texas. He was able to fly to America and buy a gun because British intelligence closed an investigation into him, deeming him to not be a threat.

But let’s dig a little deeper shall we? Salman Abedi, the Manchester Arena bomber, was known to MI5 for seven years before he blew himself up in a room full of young children.

Salman Abedi had first been on the MI5 radar in 2010, seven years before the attack, he was made a "subject of interest" in 2014, and was mentioned on several occasions in reporting to MI5 from mid-2015 onwards, including information about his support for ISIS.

On two separate occasions in the months before the attack, MI5 received intelligence that Abedi was involved in terrorism but dismissed it as criminal activity.

There was a meeting scheduled for 9 days after the terror attack, where officials were going to decide whether or not to reopen their investigation into him.

Usman Khan had planned to blow up the London Stock Exchange. He convinced everyone he was rehabilitated so was released early from prison – he was given special permission to travel to London for a rehabilitation event…where he stabbed two of the rehabilitation staff’s team to death and injured three others.

Police had to shoot him 20 times before he stopped.

Khuram Butt, one of the London Bridge terrorists, was filmed as part of a Channel 4 Documentary called, get this, Jihadis Next Door where he was filmed unfurling an ISIS flag in Regent’s Park. Forget the ISIS flag, that’s a massive red flag, isn't it?

He went on to take part in a terror attack that saw eight people die.

Michael Adebolajo, the man who slaughtered Fusilier Lee Rigby in Woolwich in 2013, was linked in 2003 to the banned organisation Al-Muhajiroun.

Three years later he was arrested outside the Old Bailey during a protest over the trial of Islamic activist Mizanur Rahman.

In 2010 he was arrested in Kenya on suspicion of trying to train with the Al-Shabaab terror group.

Three years later killed Lee Rigby, because he was still allowed to walk the streets as a free man.

Giving these people any kind of freedom whatsoever is dangerous. Just look at the Streatham terrorist Sudesh Amman, he was under near 24-hour surveillance but was still able to nip into a shop, buy a knife and stab two people before being shot dead…why was that allowed? Why take the chance? All those resources…all that manpower, time, energy…

And I’m sick of how many of these terrorists are linked to a single man – Anjem Choudary.

If you type in Anjem Choudary ‘linked to’ on Google there are pages and pages of results – the terror cell behind the kidnap of journalist John Cantlie, for example.

He’s widely reported to have directly influenced around 100 terrorists, both at home and abroad. He was a key figure in Al-Muhajiroun before it was banned under terrorism legislation and relaunched itself as Al-Ghurabaa, which again was banned under terrorism laws. Successor groups in turn were banned under terrorism legislation, such as Islam4Uk and Muslims Against Crusades.

If we couldn’t arrest a man with links to that many banned terror organisations until he actually pledged allegiance to ISIS, we’ve got problems. This guy was acting as a cancer, spreading terror like ringworm throughout society.

Dutch intelligence agency AIVD declared Choudary to be a key influence in the spread of the jihadi movement in the Netherlands.

Choudary reportedly also helped set up Sharia4Belgium.

If reports are true, he’s been on an international jihadi tour, this guy.

I think we have to face facts here – there are too many terrorists for us to keep track of, the terror threat is clearly much bigger than we’re being told and rehabilitation doesn’t work, in my opinion, for someone who believes they’re serving a higher power, who buys into a death cult and thinks their way of entering paradise is by killing innocent civilians. I don’t think you come back from that. I don’t think you’ll ever not be a threat.

I think we should bring back the death penalty for convicted jihadis. At least anyone found guilty of a plot to kill others should face the death penalty. If they want to go to Paradise, then why don’t we send them there.