A 14-year-old boy has been charged with a terrorism offence after police discovered a plan to target two London mosques that was linked to extreme right-wing terrorism.
The child was initially arrested at an address in south London on suspicion of criminal damage to a vehicle and was planning to target the two places of worship in Sutton and has been remanded in custody.
He is due at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Thursday charged with preparation of terrorist acts on or before 9 July, and racially aggravated damage to property.
A spokesperson for the Muslim Council of Britain said:
“In the past month we have witnessed racist pogroms on the streets of Belfast, a terrorist incident in Edinburgh that left five people injured, and a potential foiled terror plot against the Ijtema event only this week. The details of this latest case are deeply concerning, but also a reflection of the trajectory we have been travelling for some time.
There is an urgent need to move beyond words of condemnation and outcry to something more concrete: a cross-government action plan to protect British Muslims as equal citizens. The Protective Security for Mosques Scheme, meanwhile, is simply not fit for purpose. Mosques are left waiting months, sometimes years, for applications to be processed, while a new Home Office code of conduct now threatens to withhold funding from those who dare criticise the scheme itself. Warm words from ministers count for nothing if mosques are left to fend for themselves and Muslims are repeatedly treated as legitimate targets and framed as outsiders.”
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