UK 'lucky to escape suicide bomb'

There is no accurate record of asylum seekers living in the UK

The UK is "very lucky" to have escaped suicide bombings so far, according to one of England's most senior police officers.

Police were reassessing the type of targets which may be picked by terrorists in Britain in the wake of strikes in Morocco and Saudi Arabia, said the president of the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), Chris Fox.

His comments came as armed police began carrying out roadside checks across the North East on Monday in the wake of the international terrorist attacks.

Northumbria Police chiefs said the spot-checks, which will continue for a number of weeks, were aimed at reassuring people that the force was continuing its activity against the threat of terrorism.

Speaking at ACPO's annual conference at the NEC in Birmingham, Mr Fox said: "Suicide bombers are a totally different problem. We're very lucky in this country that we haven't seen one yet.

Mass migration has brought with it a whole new range and a whole new type of crime

Chris Fox

Two jailed over immigration ring

"That is mainly because most of the people in this country do not support terrorism and want to help us stop it, whatever their culture, creed or religion."

Asked if the suspected al-Qaeda attacks in Casablanca and Riyadh the last few days had led chief constables to look again at possible targets in the UK, he said: "It raises your attention and you re-engage on the threat. We have to reconsider what the threat is.

"They are picking targets that are almost everyday targets, such as hotels and cafes. Soft targets exist all over London, Birmingham or the NEC.

"It's down to the public to tell us about people who they are suspicious of.

"As a result of what's happened abroad we will be looking at what happens in every town and city."

A spokesman for Northumbria Police said of their roadside checks: "This is a recognised police counter terrorist tactic and is not a response to a specific threat nor is it directed at any particular sector of terrorism."

The checks will continue on various routes throughout Tyne and Wear and Northumberland over the coming weeks, he added.

'Tidal wave'

Earlier Mr Fox told the conference that high levels of organised crime across the country are linked to immigrants and asylum-seekers.

He linked people-smuggling, prostitution and drug dealing are among the crimes linked to immigration.

Immigration and asylum are also being used as a cover by criminals to enter the country, he told BBC One's Breakfast.

But, he said the vast majority of immigrants were not involved in crime.

Every force in England has investigations abroad into crime committed by people who had entered the country both illegally and legally, he added.

He warned a "tidal wave" of mass immigration had brought a "new wave of crimes", in an interview with the Observer newspaper.

'Balancing act'

"Mass migration has brought with it a whole new range and a whole new type of crime, from the Nigerian fraudster, to the eastern European who deals in drugs and prostitution to the Jamaican concentration on drug dealing," he said.

"My personal view is that this is a small island.

"We have some very, very intensely-populated areas and I think we have to be careful just how we let the mix develop.

"It's healthy that we've got lots of different people, but if you go into some of the cities, looking at the north, Bradford simmers, Blackburn simmers."

The far-right British National Party won eight council seats in Burnley earlier this month, and Bradford and Oldham suffered race riots last summer.

Mr Fox said it did not take much to disturb that balance

"We've got to be very careful to make sure that we're not overwhelming our current infrastructure," he said.