Russia and Iran ‘trying to recruit British schoolchildren for espionage'

Telegraph

15-07-2025

Hostile states are trying to recruit British schoolchildren to carry out acts of surveillance and sabotage in the UK, the head of counter-terror policing has warned.
Detectives have identified several plots in which teenagers were allegedly recruited as criminal proxies by agents acting for Russia and Iran.
At least one person in their mid-teens has been arrested and others have been investigated in recent months, according to Dominic Murphy, the head of Scotland Yard's counter-terrorism command.
The success of Britain's counter-intelligence work since the Salisbury Novichok attacks of 2018 has meant hostile states have increasingly been turning to criminal proxies to conduct their activities in the UK, it is believed.
Earlier this month, five British men were convicted of carrying out an arson attack on behalf of the Russian Wagner terrorist group on a warehouse in east London with links to Ukraine.
It later emerged that Dylan Earl, the ringleader, had been recruited online and had been offered money to carry out the attack.
Counter-terrorism police have warned that young people, including school-age children and those who are feeling disillusioned, are particularly vulnerable to online recruitment and manipulation.
Officers have urged parents and teachers to show the same sort of vigilance needed to prevent youngsters from becoming radicalised by extremists.
Vicki Evans, counter-terrorism policing's senior national co-ordinator said: 'Our primary concern isn't that these other people are ideologically aligned to the views of state threats and people tasking that activity.
'But we are concerned that they might find themselves in an online environment where they are encouraged or egged on to do something and don't understand what they are being asked to do.
'Or they are offered some money and see it as a quick and easy way to get some money, not realising the consequences. Or they might be looking for the sort of notoriety in an environment where somebody is encouraging them and challenging them to do things.'
She urged parents, teachers and other professionals to be 'inquisitive' and ask questions in order to avoid youngsters being 'inadvertently drawn into this sort of activity'.
Ms Evans added: ' Espionage operations target our democracy, target our institutions, they threaten to fracture public trust here in our communities and threaten to target the things that underpin our daily life and our way of life.'
Ms Evans said criminal proxies were 'disposable' to those tasking them and were often not even paid for carrying out activities that could lead to them being sent to prison for many years.
She added: 'The reality is people are being targeted to conduct this work. They are then disposable to the individuals tasking them once they've been caught, and it will be the individual conducting the act who will be caught, and the handlers or the taskers will not come to their rescue or support them in any way.
'We are looking to raise awareness about this and make a direct appeal to people to think about what they might be being asked to do in these environments, who their tasking might be from, and what that could mean to them.'
Mr Murphy said there had been a fivefold increase in work to tackle hostile state activity since 2018, and that a fifth of counter-terrorism policing's casework involved threats beyond traditional terrorism – primarily state-sponsored espionage, sabotage and targeted violence.