Robert Quick says terrorist threat is greater than a decade ago and it may be better for extremists to surrender passports and leave rather than ‘festering’

The threat of terrorist attacks on the UK is greater than a decade ago and the government should consider allowing those who want to live under the rule of Islamic State to leave, Britain’s former head of counter-terrorism has said.

Robert Quick, who was a Scotland Yard assistant commissioner, told the Guardian it may be better to have extremists surrender their passports rather than having them “fester” in Britain.

His comments came as the UK prepares to mark the 10th anniversary of the worst terrorist attack on Britain on 7 July 2005, in which 52 people were murdered and 750 injured when suicide bombers exploded bombs on three tube trains and a bus in London.

From 7/7 to Isis: how the terrorist threat to the UK has evolved Read more

The anniversary, which will be officially marked on Tuesday, has provoked soul searching about Britain’s progress in fighting terrorism. The rise of Islamic State has stretched counter-terrorism investigators trying to stop attacks and prevent Britons going to territory controlled by the militants.

About 700 Britons have fled to join the “caliphate” declared by Isis, enforced by high levels of violence in Iraq and Syria.

Quick, who was head of special operations for Scotland Yard from 2008-09, said those wanting to go to Isis-controlled territory in the two countries should have to hand their British passports in as they leave. The condition of them being allowed to travel to join Isis could be they would never be allowed to return to Britain.

He said: “You have to think how do you confront it, if you have hundreds or thousands who want to go there and live that life? We should try and convince them not to go. If they want to go, you have to ask the question, are we better off, if they surrender their passports and go? It’s better than them festering away here.

“Should we say we’ll lay on charter flights to Syria; turn up with your passport and if you are over 18, if this is the life you want, then go?”

Quick said an extremist Islamist pathology and British values were irreconcilable. The terrorism threat has changed in the past decade from al-Qaida-style large scale plots to cause mass casualties, to smaller plots, possibly from people acting alone.

Quick gave a bleak assessment about the danger Britain faced – a sense of pessimism shared by others who have served at a senior level in Britain’s counter-terrorism struggle. He said: “We’re in a worse place, in a more precarious place than ever. Ten years ago, we were dealing with relatively small numbers, who travelled mainly to Pakistan. They were engaged in conspiracies that were quite elaborate, involving plotting and communications that could be intercepted.

“Now we are dealing with large numbers, who have travelled to Syria – we don’t know how many will come back with horrible intent – and the homegrown extremists who are here. We are in a less safe position than we were then, because the world outside our borders is less safe than 10 years ago. There are more people who are motivated, inspired or encouraged to mount these attacks.

“Our understanding of radicalisation, what is at the heart of dissatisfaction with UK society, is very little understood.”

Assistant commissioner Mark Rowley, the current counter-terrorism chief at Scotland Yard, said Isis was trying to recruit non-Muslims: “It has an impact on other communities. They are looking for misfits and criminals from all sorts of backgrounds, not simply from Muslim communities.

“We are dealing with an organisation that uses marketing, uses the internet and is trying to create a corrupt violent cult that is going to act in its name.”

The attack a decade ago was carried out by four suicide bombers. Ringleader Mohammad Sidique Khan had been trained and directed by top al-Qaida operatives.

MI5 was cleared by an official inquiry of blunders that allowed Khan to avoid detection.

This was despite him being on their radar and caught on a bug discussing going to Pakistan. He did, meeting terror mastermind Rashid Rauf, originally from Birmingham, an al-Qaida master bombmaker among other top terror officials.



In a rare statement marking the anniversary, Andrew Parker, director general of MI5, Britain’s domestic security service, said: “We had always known - and said publicly - we simply can’t find and stop every terrorist plot. We could not have prevented 7/7.”

Parker, MI5’s head of counter-terrorism in 2005, expressed concern over a continuing threat posed by UK citizens who for their own “twisted reasons” mountrf terrorist plots against their own country.

Parker said: “These and other appalling acts are attempted by individuals who have grown up here but decided for whatever twisted reasons to identify their own country as the enemy. They are a tiny fraction of the population.

“But the continuing fact that some people, born in the UK, with all the opportunities and freedoms that modern Britain offers, can nonetheless make those sorts of warped choices presents a serious societal and security challenge.”