Former Head of Cobra demands UK deport jihadists NOW ‘We can't allow them to roam free'
FORMER Head of Cobra, Colonel Richard Kemp, said that it is “too late” for platitudes about how we must be tolerant and try to understand those who pose a threat to the UK, insisting that they should be deported.
Former Cobra chief: Known jihadists should be deported from UK
He spoke to Kate Garraway and Ben Shephard on Good Morning Britain today about what can be done to help reduce the threat of terror in the UK.
“We have the finest intelligence services and finest police services in the world and they have protected us time and time again,” he noted. “Hundreds of attacks have been stopped, thousands of terrorists have been put in prison.
“The problem is that there are 3,000 known jihadists on the streets of the UK today, our intelligence services, our police services, no matter how good they are they can’t monitor all of them, they can’t control all of them.”
He went on to add that security services have to “prioritise” those they focus their attention on and “sometimes get it wrong”.
Related articles
We do not allow them to roam free on our streets
Colonel Kemp insisted that the only way to help them was to deport those who pose a threat, commenting: “Every single person who we have intelligence upon, who is known to be involved in terrorism, who is not a UK citizen, and who we cannot prosecute in this court, we deport and send them back to where they came from.
“We do not allow them to roam free on our streets and murder and maim and disfigure our children like they did in Manchester.”
Kate raised the point that Salman Abedi, who detonated an improvised explosive device (IED) as children and their parents left the Manchester Arena on Monday night, was a British citizen, which meant he could not be deported.
But Colonel Kemp hit back: “I’m well aware of the complications but we don’t have to make excuses because there are complications, if he is a British citizen then we intern him if he can’t be deported.”
His comments came after Steve How, who lost his wife Alison during the heartless attack, said that “enough is enough” and more needs to be done to combat terror.
He told the ITV hosts that he “can’t put into words” how his family feels following their loss, adding: “We’re broken in half.”
Anyone with concerns for loved ones can contact 0161 856 9400 or 0161 856 9900 for assistance.
The Anti-Terrorist Hotline is 0800 789321. Anyone with urgent concerns should contact 999.
