UK cities threatened by Nice-like terror attacks: security official
Smaller cities in the UK might be targeted by terror attacks similar to the one that killed dozens of people in Nice, France, says a former British security official.
Former Metropolitan Police counter-terror officer David Videcette warned Sunday that terrorists are looking for an opportunity to take advantage of insufficient security in some cities across the UK, days after more than 80 people were killed in a lorry attack in Nice.
He said large gatherings of people on different occasions are covered by huge security presence in bigger cities like London.
“But it is a very different story at some of the events that take place outside of London. Some of the smaller forces do not have the same resources and having to balance a budget means they have fewer officers,” he warned.
“There has been a culture of trying to do more with less, but that is something that can be exploited,” he added.
John Apter of the police federations Hampshire branch had warned earlier this year that rural police would be “sitting ducks” in case of a terror attack.
Over the past years, British lawmakers have warned that terrorists might be plotting attacks in the city of Kent, asking counter-terrorist forces to secure a World War II sunken ship with some 1,400 tons of munitions on board, that lies beneath the shallow waters of the city’s coast.
The ship’s masts are usually seen poking out of the water. The area is cordoned off by a 500-meter exclusion zone.
If terrorists lay their hands on the cargo or manage to trigger it, the resulting blast would cause one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in human history, possibly engulfing the country’s South East in devastating floods.
“Terrorists could create a lot of damage for very little effort if they blew this thing up. It is no surprise the ship has been branded a ‘disaster waiting to happen’,” the Daily Express quoted a security source as saying.
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