Border Security: Third of jihadists who plotted UK atrocities slipped in and out of country with ease

One in three jihadi terrorists convicted on plotting attacks on British soil were able to slip into the UK after training abroad, The Telegraph can disclose.

In figures which highlight worrying lapses in Britain’s border security, analysis shows that 27 of the 77 Islamist extremists convicted of plotting against the UK in the past 16 years travelled in and out of the country with ease.

An analysis of the backgrounds of the extremists behind the major atrocities planned in the UK between 1999 and 2015 found that that 35 per cent sought foreign combat experience or training before slipping back into the UK.

The ease with which terrorists are able to travel in and out of the country undetected, before planning murderous exploits on the streets of Britain, will add further pressure on the Government to review border security.

On Wednesday it emerged that:

•  Police forces are regularly allowing Britons to travel to fight so-called Islamic State and then failing to question them upon their return, raising fears about national security;
•  Theresa May, the Home Secretary, cut the UK Border Force’s resource budget – which includes guard numbers – by £2million this year, despite the fears over border security;
• Lord West of Spithead, a former head of the Royal Navy and a security minister in the last Labour Government, warned that Britain’s coastline outside of major ports was “highly vulnerable”.

An examination of the major attacks and plots in the UK over the 15 year period found that 10 of the 13 ringleaders had travelled abroad for training or combat experience and returned to the UK.These included Imran Mahmood, the ringleader of a gang who plotted an attack in Wootton Bassett and had travelled to Pakistan for training and returned to the UK with traces of explosives in his rucksack.Mohammed Siddique Khan, the ringleader of the July 7 2005 bomb attacks which killed 52 and injured 700 on London’s transport network, who earlier attended training camps in Afghanistan and Pakistan.