Children at risk of being recruited by hostile states, police warn

Counter-terror police have warned the activity of hostile states on British soil is posing a growing threat and urged families to watch for signs their children are being manipulated.

Teenagers, along with petty criminals and disillusioned people, may be more vulnerable to recruitment by Russia, Iran and China, they warned.

Hostile states are increasingly using proxies to carry out acts of sabotage and targeted violence in the UK, counter-terror police said, adding that investigating such activity now accounts for about 20% of their workload.

Parents and teachers should "be inquisitive" and "seek help" if they think a child is at risk, police advised.

Since the Salisbury poisonings in 2018 – which targeted Russian double agent Sergei Skripal – there has been a five-fold increase in police work to tackle hostile activity, commanders said.

"The breadth, complexity and volume of these operations has continued to grow at a rate that Im not sure that us, or our partners internationally, or any intelligence community predicted," Dominic Murphy, head of the Metropolitan Polices Counter-Terrorism Command, told reporters.

"We are increasingly seeing these three states, but not just these three states, undertaking threat to life operations in the United Kingdom."

The youngest person arrested or investigated on suspicion of involvement is aged in their "mid-teens", he added.

Vicki Evans, Counter Terrorism Policings senior national co-ordinator, expressed concern other children may be encouraged online to carry out activities to earn money, without realising the implications of their actions.

"We really encourage people, parents, teachers, professionals just to be inquisitive," she said.

"If theyre concerned, ask those questions, and if they think theres something they need to be concerned about, seek help and act, because we want to make sure that were protecting people from inadvertently being drawn into this sort of activity."

The Metropolitan Police is now putting additional resources into tackling hostile state activity, with training for officers in "foreign interference" and hundreds taking part in recent exercises in how to respond.

"Were working with local force chiefs up and down the country to raise awareness and ensure that there really is an increased understanding about this threat," Ms Evans said.

Earlier this month, two low-level criminals were among five people convicted of involvement in an arson attack on a warehouse storing communications equipment for Ukraine.

Police said the attack had been ordered by Russias Wagner group, and that one of the ringleaders, 21-year-old Dylan Earl, had been plotting to kidnap its owner, a Russian dissident.

The Met said it was also dealing with a "high volume" of threats from Iran, focused on those considered to be opponents of the Islamic Republic.

"We know that they are continuing to try and sow violence on the streets of the United Kingdom, they too are to some extent relying on criminal proxies to do that," Mr Murphy said.

The use of criminal proxies offers "arms-length deniability," according to Ms Evans, who blames the rising threat on the "continued erosion of the rule-based international order".

The warnings came in the first specific briefing for journalists from counter-terrorism police on the threat of hostile state activity.

"Foreign regimes are more willing than ever to undertake aggressive actions overseas," Ms Evans said.