Brit kids 'being groomed by Russian and Iranian spies to carry out attacks in UK'

British children are being groomed by Russian and Iranian spies to help carry out state-backed attacks in the UK, senior counter-terror officers have warned.

The hostile states are targeting youngsters online in an attempt to use them as "proxies" to carry out criminal activity, Scotland Yard said on Tuesday. Deputy Assistant Commissioner Vicki Evans told journalists: "Ultimately we have children and adults in these environments, particularly online environments, where they can easily be targeted, be groomed into conversations into tasking, some might be disenfranchised and be looking for something The message to people like parents and teachers is be vigilant, understand the risk that exists in these spaces, talk, educate, report your concerns, that helps us to protect people."

Commander Dominic Murphy said his officers had arrested at least one youngster in their "mid-teens" amid a "long-term trend" of hostile states carrying out attacks in the UK. Ms Evans revealed there has been a five-fold increase in state-sponsored incidents since 2018, adding that it was "highly likely we will continue to see growth in this area".

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She warned that the rising threat was due to the "erosion of a rule-based international order" and "great international instability". It comes after Dylan Earl, a small-time drug dealer from Leicestershire, was convicted of plotting to set fire to a London warehouse containing communications equipment destined for Ukraine.

Earl was working for the Wagner Group, the mercenary unit controlled by the Russian state. Jakeem Rose, 23, Ugnius Asmena, 20, and Nii Mensah, 23, were convicted last week at the Old Bailey of aggravated arson with intent to endanger life after the blaze at the unit, which sent aid and internet satellite equipment to Ukraine.

The attack was orchestrated by Earl, 20, and Jake Reeves, 23, who admitted aggravated arson on behalf of the Wagner Group. Ms Evans said a fifth of British counter-terror policing is now dedicated to battling a surge of state-backed threats.

She told reporters that the fact she was hosting the first Met Police press briefing on the danger posed by hostile foreign nations was a reflection on the “scale and intensity" of the threat. The majority of the attacks are coming from China, Russia and Iran with a number of cases due to come before British courts in the coming months.

Mr Murphy said: "The volume of those arrested have continued to grow at a rate that I'm not sure any of us predicted." The officer has previously warned that state-backed espionage in Britain is at its worst since the Cold War.

He said on Tuesday: "Iran really does continue to pose a very real physical threat to individuals in this country." Ken McCallum, the head of MI5, said in October that authorities had stopped 20 state-backed plots hatched by Iran in the UK since 2022.

Mr McCallum warned of an “unprecedented pace and scale” of plots posing “potentially lethal threats” to British citizens. Iran was the first foreign power to be listed on the enhanced tier of the foreign influence registration scheme (Firs), aimed at protecting the UK from malign foreign influence.