Hundreds of potential terrorists are being closely monitored for any sign they could attack COP26, according to reports.
More than 800 potential terrorists are reportedly 'being watched' ahead of the conference, which kicks off next week, with military intelligence expert Philip Ingram telling the Sunday Mail that the summit will be a “very ripe target” for terrorists with “high potential” for an attack.
Delegates including US President Joe Biden will attend the conference in Glasgow from next week.
“It will not just attract Islamist terrorists, it’s good for right-wing terrorists, the extreme left and for eco-terrorists – it is a big target, a very ripe target, and the potential for an attack is high," Ingram told the Sunday Mail.
“From the contingency planning perspective, this will be beyond the capability of Police Scotland. In the background, you will have the security service with surge capability.
“Anyone on the terror watchlist – as of today there are probably 800 active investigations into people who could be preparing attacks – the security service will have maximum capability to watch for any indications they might be moving towards threatening COP26.
“Backing that up there will be support from the MoD, with special forces allocated to reinforce the police.”
Police Scotland Assistant Chief Constable Bernard Higgins told the Sunday Mail: “There is no specific threat. We have a number of mitigations in place as well as contingency plans we can implement immediately if required.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel