Scottish anti-terror chief Gerry McLean has suggested Scotland is less vulnerable to radical Islamic terror attacks than England because it does a better job of integrating Muslims.
Detective Chief Superintendent Gerry McLean, who heads Police Scotland’s organised crime and counter-terrorism unit, claimed “There’s definitely something about how Scottish communities feel, there is a degree of inclusiveness. [Muslims] perhaps feel more part of Scottish society and day-to-day life,” in comments to The Times.
“They will have a wide range of political opinions, they will have views on global events, some of them will be very vocal but at the same time they don’t want to advance that in terms of actually hurting people or society,” he gushed.
What the police officer does not appear to acknowledge is the fact that Scotland has had far fewer Muslims to integrate than England, both in absolute and relative terms.
Officially, Scotland hosts about 77,000 Muslims, representing 1.4 per cent of the population. Meanwhile, England is home to 2.6 million Muslims, representing 5.2 per cent of the population — a significantly higher proportion — although these figures may be out of date and are not inclusive of illegal migrants.
However, if McClean thinks having a smaller Muslims population means it is easier to integrate newcomers into wider society, he does not say so — and this certainly does not appear to be the view of the SNP-led Scottish Government, which is keen to increase immigration north of the border.
Moreover, the police chief may be downplaying the fact that there is indeed a radical Islamic presence in Scotland.
Police have previously confessed there are up to a hundred Islamic State supporters in Scotland, including some who have travelled to the Middle East to fight for radical group.
These include Aqsa Mahmood, a jihadi bride and Islamic State recruiter who travelled to the terror state from Glasgow, and has been the subject of news reports.
Scottish mosques are known to have hosted extremist preachers, and the country was subject to a radical Islamic terrorist attack in 2007, when a Jeep packed with explosives was rammed into Glasgow Airport in Paisley.
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