British police arrested more terror suspects in the 2014-15 period than in any year since the 11 September 2001 attacks in the United States.
Figures released by the UK’s Home Office on Thursday showed 299 people were arrested in the year to March 2015, with a third of the suspects — 100 people — subsequently charged with a terrorism-related offense.
The figure surpasses the previous peak of 284 set in 2005, when 52 people were killed in four simultaneous suicide bombings on the London Underground rail system.
British police were permitted to question terror suspects for up to 28 days without charge from 2006, although this was reduced to 14 days in 2011.
The latest figures cover a period of heightened alert in Britain over the situation in Syria.
On Monday, Prime Minister David Cameron revealed that two UK nationals fighting for Daesh had been killed by a British drone flying over Syria.
Reyaad Khan, 21, and Ruhul Amin, 26, were said to be plotting to attack “high-profile commemorations” in the UK over the summer, Cameron said.
Secretary of State for Defence Michael Fallon later described it as an “absurdity” that the British government did not have parliamentary permission to conduct regular air strikes against Daesh targets in Syria.
The Home Office figures showed the vast majority of the 2,994 people arrested under anti-terrorism laws since 11 September 2001 were British nationals. One-hundred-and-fifty-six Algerians, 143 Pakistanis, 60 Indians, 57 Somalis and 54 Turkish citizens were arrested by police in the same 14-year period.
