UK police to launch bid over Syria terrorists

Police in Britain are set to launch a new campaign appealing to women to prevent their loved ones from joining the militancy in Syria.

The campaign, which will be launched later on Thursday, is expected to call on the women in the UK to prevent young Britons from heading to Syria to fight alongside the militants in the Arab country.

Helen Ball, the national coordinator for counter terrorism policing at the Metropolitan Police, said in a statement that the planned campaign is “not about criminalizing people, it is about preventing tragedies.”

This is while several Western countries, including Britain itself, have played a major role in fanning the flames of the turmoil in Syria by supporting the militants.

The planned police campaign in Britain comes following a dramatic rise in the number of British people being arrested on suspicion of Syria-related terrorism.

Scotland Yard said some 40 Syria-related arrests were made only in the first three months of 2014, compared with 25 in the whole of last year.

“We are increasingly concerned about the numbers of young people who have or are intending… to join the conflict,” Ball pointed out.

According to Western government sources, thousands of foreigners are currently in Syria, operating alongside the extremist and Takfiri groups fighting against the government of President Bashar al-Assad.

Recent estimates put the number of the British militants at up to 400.

Earlier this month, Britain’s chief anti-terrorism official Charles Farr said Syria-related terrorism is the main challenge facing the UK security services.

He had earlier warned that the security threat from those militants inside Syria is “the biggest challenge” facing the police and intelligence agencies since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.