British police and security agencies are monitoring 30 terror plots, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith told a tabloid on Sunday. “There are 22,000 individuals who are being monitored. There are 200 networks involved and 30 active plots,” Smith said in an interview with the News of the World. “We now face a threat level that is severe. It’s actually growing,” she said.Smith said that the level of threat showed why the British government was seeking legislation to extend the duration of detention of terror suspects from the current 28 days to 42.
The measure faces strong opposition in parliament from opposition Conservatives and Liberal Democrats as well as rebel lawmakers from the ruling Labour party.
The minister also confirmed that she would announce a scheme next week to invite moderate Islamic clerics from Pakistan to assist British imams in combating extremism in their communities. “The vast majority of British Muslims have a Pakistani heritage. If we work with the government there we can win the arguments,” said Smith, who visited Pakistan earlier this month.