Woman arrested at Luton airport over terror offences

The woman, from Haringey in London, was arrested at around 11.30am on Wednesday as she disembarked a flight from Istanbul, in Turkey.

The woman is being held at a police station in the west Midlands on suspicion of preparing for acts of terrorism.

The terror threat level in the UK was raised from substantial to severe earlier this year against a backdrop of increasing concerns over hundreds of aspiring British jihadis travelling to Iraq and Syria to learn terrorist “tradecraft”.

In December, counter-terrorism police stopped a flight that had begun taxiing down the runway to stop a 15-year-old girl from travelling to Syria.

Two British men who were arrested after returning to the UK from Syria in January were jailed for 12 years and 8 months on 5 December.

IS fears

Fears of a terrorist attack on Britain’s streets have heightened in the wake of the rise of the extremist group Islamic State that has taken over large swathes of Iraq and Syria and attracted thousands of foreign jihadists to its cause, including more than 500 Britons.

A new counter-terrorism and security bill, containing a range of draconian powers including new orders that can block suspected British fighters from returning to the UK, was introduced to parliament this year.