The United Kingdom reported on Thursday March 4 a "
worrying
"
increase
in the arrests of teenagers for terrorist offenses, establishing a link between the lockdowns put in place against the coronavirus and the recruitment of young people by organizations such than the Islamic State group.
Read also: Terrorism: the army mobilized against jihad 3.0
In front of the deputies, the Minister of Foreign Affairs Dominic Raab noted an increase of 7% in December over one year of the "
volume of terrorist content online
" and "
a worrying increase in the proportion of children and adolescents who are now arrested for terrorist offenses
”.
According to Dominic Raab, the London police believe that the successive lockdowns established to fight the epidemic due to the coronavirus facilitate “
digital access
” for “
terrorists
” to “
those who are probably most receptive to extremist narratives
”.
He cited the jihadist Islamic State (IS) group which he considers "
the greatest terrorist threat, both domestically and abroad
."
Labor MP Lisa Nandy, in charge of Foreign Affairs for the opposition, said she was "
deeply disturbed
" by the way in which young people were being targeted by ISIS during the lockdown.
The United Kingdom has been undergoing its third confinement since the beginning of January, with the closure of schools, set up to fight the Covid-19 pandemic, which has killed more than 123,000 there.
It has suffered several attacks claimed by the Islamic State in recent years.