Terrorism: Police concern over teen far-right extremism

By Jordan Davies & Emilia Davies

BBC News

A rise in teenagers involved with neo-Nazi groups and far-right extremism is "incredibly alarming", a counter-terrorism detective has said.

Det Supt Gareth Rees said police could not "arrest our way out of" the issue.

On Wednesday, Luca Benincasa, 20, from Cardiff, was jailed after admitting to being a member of a neo-Nazi group.

Experts called it a "hugely dangerous time", saying Covid and the cost-of-living crisis could push more young people towards the far-right.

There are also concerns around how the internet is used to share material.

"In terms of the ages, we've seen the low teens - and that is an incredibly alarming thing to see," Det Supt Rees said.

"We have seen people engaged in attack plots, attack planning, looking at attacking locations or individuals.

"But we've also seen significant volumes of offences related to sharing, downloading and sending material, which breaches the terrorism act.

"You've got people who are very young, very impressionable, and very vulnerable who are being drawn into a very worrying area which not only affects their own wellbeing, but also ultimately presents a threat to other people."