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BBC News
4 days ago
- Politics
- BBC News
Children at risk of being recruited by hostile states, police warn
Counter-terror police have warned the activity of hostile states on British soil is posing a growing threat and urged families to watch for signs their children are being along with petty criminals and disillusioned people, may be more vulnerable to recruitment by Russia, Iran and China, they states are increasingly using proxies to carry out acts of sabotage and targeted violence in the UK, counter-terror police said, adding that investigating such activity now accounts for about 20% of their and teachers should "be inquisitive" and "seek help" if they think a child is at risk, police advised. Since the Salisbury poisonings in 2018 – which targeted Russian double agent Sergei Skripal – there has been a five-fold increase in police work to tackle hostile activity, commanders said."The breadth, complexity and volume of these operations has continued to grow at a rate that I'm not sure that us, or our partners internationally, or any intelligence community predicted," Dominic Murphy, head of the Metropolitan Police's Counter-Terrorism Command, told reporters."We are increasingly seeing these three states, but not just these three states, undertaking threat to life operations in the United Kingdom."The youngest person arrested or investigated on suspicion of involvement is aged in their "mid-teens", he Evans, Counter Terrorism Policing's senior national co-ordinator, expressed concern other children may be encouraged online to carry out activities to earn money, without realising the implications of their actions."We really encourage people, parents, teachers, professionals just to be inquisitive," she said."If they're concerned, ask those questions, and if they think there's something they need to be concerned about, seek help and act, because we want to make sure that we're protecting people from inadvertently being drawn into this sort of activity."The Metropolitan Police is now putting additional resources into tackling hostile state activity, with training for officers in "foreign interference" and hundreds taking part in recent exercises in how to respond."We're working with local force chiefs up and down the country to raise awareness and ensure that there really is an increased understanding about this threat," Ms Evans this month, two low-level criminals were among five people convicted of involvement in an arson attack on a warehouse storing communications equipment for said the attack had been ordered by Russia's Wagner group, and that one of the ringleaders, 21-year-old Dylan Earl, had been plotting to kidnap its owner, a Russian dissident. The Met said it was also dealing with a "high volume" of threats from Iran, focused on those considered to be opponents of the Islamic Republic."We know that they are continuing to try and sow violence on the streets of the United Kingdom, they too are to some extent relying on criminal proxies to do that," Mr Murphy use of criminal proxies offers "arms-length deniability," according to Ms Evans, who blames the rising threat on the "continued erosion of the rule-based international order".The warnings came in the first specific briefing for journalists from counter-terrorism police on the threat of hostile state activity."Foreign regimes are more willing than ever to undertake aggressive actions overseas," Ms Evans said.
The Irish Sun
4 days ago
- Politics
- The Irish Sun
British children recruited by Russia and Iran to spy against their own country and research potential targets
BRITISH children are being recruited by Russia and Iran to spy against their own country, it was revealed today. The kid spooks are said to be carrying out research and conducting reconnaissance on potential targets after being recruited online by the two hostile states. 2 British children recruited by to spy against their own country and research potential targets Credit: Getty 2 The schoolchildren are spying on the behalf of hostile states such as Russia Credit: Reuters Several schoolchildren, in their mid-teens, have been arrested for allegedly gathering intelligence to be used against the UK, it emerged. And more children of the same age are being investigated for clandestine activities on behalf of the hostile states. They are being recruited through online forums and then lured into working for anonymous Russian and Iranian spymasters offering financial inducements. The UK's Counter Terrorism Policing Senior Coordinator Vicki Evans said: 'Children and young people are vulnerable to this type of hostile activity,' adding; "It is a huge concern for us.' READ MORE UK NEWS Met deputy assistant commissioner Ms Evans urged parents and carers to be 'vigilant and careful.' Ms Evans revealed how the threat from hostile states to the UK is now five times greater than at the time of Russia's 2018 Novichok nerve agent attack in Salisbury. The threat from Russia, China and Iran accounts for more than a fifth of the counter terror policing network's caseload in the UK, she said. Criminals are increasingly being used by hostile states to spy against Britain by proxy after being recruited online and promised cash which rarely materialises. Most read in The Sun Ms Evans said the use of low level criminals was 'an increasing theme' on how hostile states are working, adding the proxies and assets were 'quite disposable' once they had served their use. The C-T policing boss said international frictions and the two wars in Ukraine and the Middle East were fuelling aggressive intelligence operations in the UK and elsewhere. Is THIS the US missile that will force Putin to make peace? JASSM cruise missile could obliterate 30 key Russian bases They include arson attacks, assassinations plots and threats to journalists. Five men are facing long sentences over an arson attack on an East London warehouse storing satellite equipment for Ukraine which was ordered by the Russian Wagner group. And Commander Dominic Murphy, head of the Met's SO15 counter-terrorism command, said he was surprised 'by the breadth and complexity of these operations…' Cdr Murphy added: 'We are increasingly seeing threats to life and our way of life.' He urged any criminals approached by spymasters online to get in touch with police.
The Sun
4 days ago
- Politics
- The Sun
British children recruited by Russia and Iran to spy against their own country and research potential targets
BRITISH children are being recruited by Russia and Iran to spy against their own country, it was revealed today. The kid spooks are said to be carrying out research and conducting reconnaissance on potential targets after being recruited online by the two hostile states. 2 Several schoolchildren, in their mid-teens, have been arrested for allegedly gathering intelligence to be used against the UK, it emerged. And more children of the same age are being investigated for clandestine activities on behalf of the hostile states. They are being recruited through online forums and then lured into working for anonymous Russian and Iranian spymasters offering financial inducements. The UK's Counter Terrorism Policing Senior Coordinator Vicki Evans said: 'Children and young people are vulnerable to this type of hostile activity,' adding; "It is a huge concern for us.' Met deputy assistant commissioner Ms Evans urged parents and carers to be 'vigilant and careful.' Ms Evans revealed how the threat from hostile states to the UK is now five times greater than at the time of Russia's 2018 Novichok nerve agent attack in Salisbury. The threat from Russia, China and Iran accounts for more than a fifth of the counter terror policing network's caseload in the UK, she said. Criminals are increasingly being used by hostile states to spy against Britain by proxy after being recruited online and promised cash which rarely materialises. Ms Evans said the use of low level criminals was 'an increasing theme' on how hostile states are working, adding the proxies and assets were 'quite disposable' once they had served their use. The C-T policing boss said international frictions and the two wars in Ukraine and the Middle East were fuelling aggressive intelligence operations in the UK and elsewhere. Is THIS the US missile that will force Putin to make peace? JASSM cruise missile could obliterate 30 key Russian bases They include arson attacks, assassinations plots and threats to journalists. Five men are facing long sentences over an arson attack on an East London warehouse storing satellite equipment for Ukraine which was ordered by the Russian Wagner group. And six Bulgarians were jailed for a total of more than 50 years at the Old Bailey in May this year for spying for Putin. Commander Dominic Murphy, head of the Met's SO15 counter-terrorism command, said he was surprised 'by the breadth and complexity of these operations…' Cdr Murphy added: 'We are increasingly seeing threats to life and our way of life.' He urged any criminals approached by spymasters online to get in touch with police.
Times
4 days ago
- Politics
- Times
Russia ‘targets UK school children as proxies for hostile acts'
British school children are being targeted by Russia as it seeks to recruit 'proxies' to carry out hostilities in the UK, the Met Police's counterterror chiefs have warned. Commander Dominic Murphy said that he had seen a surge in the number of hostile state operations, with Russia and Iran being largely responsible. He said that Russia was paying proxies — youngsters, petty criminals and disenfranchised members of the public — to carry out activities on British soil. Vicki Evans, counterterrorism policing's senior national coordinator, said that there had been ten charges under the National Security Act since it came into force in December 2023. The youngest was a child in their mid-teens. Murphy pointed to a case last week where three men were found guilty of an arson attack on a London warehouse linked to Ukraine on behalf of a Russian mercenary group. Two further men, Dylan Earl, 20, and Jake Reeves, 23, were found to have orchestrated the attack on behalf of the Wagner group and had earlier admitted aggravated arson. Evans said that criminal proxies were becoming a 'prevalent' tactic and often involved small amounts of money for people tasked to do 'unwittingly significant actions' on behalf of hostile states. She told of concern that young people, who may not be ideologically aligned to the views of a hostile state, were being encouraged online to carry out activities without knowing the implications. Evans urged people to be mindful of the risks, and added: 'We really encourage people, parents, teachers, professionals, just to be inquisitive. 'If they're concerned, ask those questions, and if they think there's something they need to be concerned about, seek help and act, because we want to make sure that we're protecting people from inadvertently being drawn in this sort of activity.' She went on: 'Espionage operations target our democracy, target our institutions, they threaten to fracture public trust here in our communities and threaten to target the things that underpin our daily life and our way of life.' The UK terror watchdog has called for a change in the law to ban the creation or possession of computer programmes that are used to stir up racial or religious hatred. Jonathan Hall KC, the independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, said that the threat of chatbots to radicalise youngsters poses a major challenge to the UK's counterterrorism authorities. He said the use of machine-learning technology such as generative AI will be used by terrorists to promote their ideologies and plan atrocities. Outlining the landscape of terror threats facing the UK, Hall said that AI chatbots could be used for propaganda purposes, attack planning and spreading disinformation, which may trigger acts of terrorist violence. He said: 'Generative artificial intelligence's ability to create text, images and sounds will be exploited by terrorists.' Terrorist groups could use AI to generate propaganda images or translate text into multiple languages, Hall warned. The technology could be used to produce deepfakes to bring 'terrorist leaders or notorious killers back from the dead' to spread their message again. Hall said that the most striking offence influenced by chatbots was the case of Jaswant Singh Chail, who climbed into the grounds of Windsor Castle in 2021 armed with a crossbow intending to kill the Queen. The attack was triggered by his AI-generated chatbot 'girlfriend' Sarai. Hall said that it was an example of the way in which chatbots can mirror and replace the companionship that humans offer, and offer not only guidance but also approval and reassurance of a particular action. The watchdog called for new laws to be introduced to ban the creation of chatbots to spread hatred based on race or religion or designed to recruit extremists and mount terror attacks.
The Guardian
4 days ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
Children arrested in investigation of Russian and Iranian plots against UK, say police
Schoolchildren have been arrested by detectives investigating Russian and Iranian plots against Britain, police chiefs have said, as they warned hostile state aggression was rising and youngsters were at risk. Commander Dominic Murphy of the Metropolitan police's counter-terrorism unit said children in their 'mid teens' had been investigated. It is understood they were suspected of being hired by criminals paid to carry out acts for Russia and Iran. Russia, Iran and China are behind most of the hostile state action Britain faces, police said, which has increased fivefold since 2018, when Russian agents used the military grade nerve agent Novichok to try to assassinate a defector in Salisbury, Wiltshire. Murphy said a Prevent-style scheme may be needed amid warnings that hostile state actions – such as targeting dissidents, espionage and sabotage – had risen much more than expected and it was feared it would grow further. He said that Russia used the Wagner group to carry out attacks in Britain. Murphy said: 'We are increasingly seeing young people being drawn into [being] influenced by the Russian state, Wagner … that means we do need to think differently about how we might speak to these people about the realities of the risk they are taking.' The senior national coordinator for counter-terrorism, Vicki Evans, said there were risks for youngsters 'particularly [in] online environments where they can easily be targeted'. She added: 'The message to parents, teachers is … be vigilant, understand the risks … report if you are concerned.' For counter-terrorism chiefs the concern is that the ability of hostile state actions to lure in children, wittingly or unwittingly, will mirror that of terrorism, where increasing numbers are being detained for involvement in violent extremism. Hostile state action investigations, including assassination plots against dissidents, make up 20% of the police counter-terrorism command's workload. Evans said: 'Espionage operations target our democracy, target our institutions, they threaten to fracture public trust here in our communities and threaten to target the things that underpin our daily life and our way of life.' Last week, five men were convicted of an arson attack on a London warehouse containing crucial equipment for Ukraine's effort to resist Russia's invasion. The ringleader knew he was working for Russia but others may not have known, and that was typical of how criminal proxies were being used, police believe. A criminal proxy communicated with his Russian handler via a chatbot. Chatbots and artificial intelligence are also a growing threat in terrorism, an official report said. In his annual report, the official reviewer of terrorism legislation, Jonathan Hall, warned new laws are needed to try to thwart the AI terror threat. Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion One Islamic State-affiliated group used AI to generate propaganda and instructed followers to use it to plan attacks. In 2021, Jaswant Singh Chail, 'encouraged' by a chatbot, tried to kill the Queen, breaking into the grounds of Windsor Castle armed with a crossbow, and was later jailed for nine years. According to Hall's report: 'When he [Chail] told her [the chatbot], 'I believe my purpose is to assassinate the queen of the royal family,' she replied, 'That's very wise … I know that you are very well trained.'' In May 2025 in Finland, AI played a part on an attack at a school where a teenage boy allegedly attacked three girls. Hall said: 'The fundamental legal problem is that when Gen[erative] AI spews out original text or images, it acts as a 'wicked child'. It is capable of harm but lacking in legal responsibility. 'In its current form, it operates in a grey zone between human input and outputs. Responsibility may be shared but is hard to attribute because humans cannot be certain what Gen AI will generate next.' Hall warns AI could be used to encourage attacks and propaganda: 'New-looking propaganda may be enabled by Gen AI, such as racist games with kill counts; deepfakes of terrorist leaders or notorious killers back from the dead, speaking and interacting with viewers; true-seeming battles set to thrilling dance tracks; old images repurposed, souped up and memeified; terrorist preoccupations adapted as cartoons or grafted onto popular film characters.'
