Security breached – Telegraph.co.uk

Exactly a year ago today, Islamist gunmen walked into the offices of the Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine in Paris and shot dead 11 staff members¹ and wounded a dozen others . It was the start of a year that culminated in France s worst peacetime atrocity 11 months later² in which more than 120 died, again in Paris.

“While responsibility for the murders lies with the jihadists, the consequences of failing to carry out basic security measures have been calamitous in France”

On both occasions, the perpetrators were known to counter-terrorist authorities . The men behind the November attacks had previously been arrested or had come to the notice of the police and yet had been able to move across Europe to Syria and back with ease .

Police did not even know the Belgian ringleader of the shootings was in Paris.

While responsibility for the murders lies with the jihadists, the consequences of failing to carry out basic security measures have been calamitous in France and could be here, too . It is alarming to discover that the masked extremist speaking with a London accent who appeared on an Islamist video this week is probably Siddhartha Dhar, who had been arrested six times for terrorism-related offences . Even though he was on bail, Dhar left for Syria with his family without the police knowing he had gone .

Six weeks after he disappeared, the police wrote to him asking if he would be good enough to give them a call and arrange to hand in his passport.

Few may care that a fanatic like Dhar has left the country; but given that so many like him have come back to Britain after fighting for Isil, how are we to take Government counter-terrorism assurances seriously when such an appalling lapse can take place ?

This occurred in 2014 .

After the bloody events of the past year, we need to be certain that it cannot happen now.

telegraph.co.uk³

Follow @telegraphworld⁴ How we moderate⁵

References

1. ^{^} Islamist gunmen walked into the offices of the Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine in Paris and shot dead 11 staff members (www.telegraph.co.uk)
2. ^{^} France s worst peacetime atrocity 11 months later (www.telegraph.co.uk)
3. ^{^} telegraph.co.uk (www.facebook.com)
4. ^{^} Follow @telegraphworld (twitter.com)
5. ^{^} How we moderate (my.telegraph.co.uk)

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