Police have investigated 100 individuals, including schoolchildren, over suspected involvement in foreign state-sponsored espionage and sabotage plots, a senior counter-terrorism commander has said. Commander Dominic Murphy of the Metropolitan Police revealed that children in their mid-teens had been arrested as part of probes linked to Russia and Iran.
The number of hostile state actions targeting Britain has increased fivefold since the 2018 Novichok attack in Salisbury, police said. Russia, Iran and China are believed to be behind the majority of these operations, which include assassination plots against dissidents, espionage and sabotage. Russia is also accused of using the Wagner group to carry out attacks in the UK.
Murphy warned that young people were being drawn into state-sponsored activity, often through online environments, and suggested a Prevent-style programme may be needed to counter this threat. “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,” he said.
Counter-terrorism chiefs fear that hostile states are exploiting vulnerable individuals, including children, as criminal proxies. Recent cases have involved arson attacks linked to Russia, with operatives using chatbots to communicate with handlers. The use of artificial intelligence in terrorism is also a growing concern, according to a report by the official reviewer of terrorism legislation, Jonathan Hall.
Hall warned that generative AI could be used to produce propaganda, encourage attacks, and operate in a legal “grey zone”. He cited cases where AI chatbots had influenced individuals to commit violent acts, including the 2021 attempt on the Queen’s life by Jaswant Singh Chail. Hostile state investigations now account for 20% of the counter-terrorism command’s workload, police confirmed.
