Five gun attack terror plots foiled

UK police have revealed that five extremist plots, similar to the Paris-style gun attacks, have been foiled in the last two years. Following news that 800 legally owned guns have gone missing, the National Crime Agency and Scotland Yard’s counter-terrorism command have urged the public to report fears about lax gun security among legal owners and criminals handling firearms to the authorities. Mark Rowley, assistant commissioner for Specialist Operations in the Metropolitan Police Service, warned that out of the ten plots disrupted in the last two years, half had involved jihadis wanting to get guns. The Met is also concerned by an apparent upsurge in guns on the streets in London and some other big urban areas. Weapons are believed to be coming from eastern Europe by a variety of methods, with law enforcement officers seizing at least 884 firearms last year, including Czech-made Skorpion submachine pistols, Uzis, and Mac-10 weapons. Rowley said: “We know that firearms can enter the criminal market through a variety of means, including thefts from legitimate holders or dealers. Law enforcement, together with security and intelligence services, are working tirelessly to locate these weapons, confront the terrorist threat and keep the public safe.” Lynne Owens, director general of the National Crime Agency, added: “Currently we believe we hold an advantage. There is low availability of illegal firearms in the UK compared with European and international partners, but it is not an advantage that we take for granted, and to maintain that advantage we must not stand still. “Suppressing the availability of illegal firearms in the UK has never been a more significant priority for the law enforcement community. Criminal networks, who think nothing about who they sell firearms to, present a significant route by which extremist groups will try to access the sort of weapons used in recent attacks in Europe.”