A UK internet user helped police stop a teenager from unleashing a deadly attack on his school in Ukraine, the Metropolitan Police has said.
The anonymous referral was made to the Met’s Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit on 4 September, according to the force.
It warned of an “imminent attack being planned by an individual in Ukraine” and was immediately passed to Europol to help alert local police.
A day later, a 15-year-old boy was arrested at a school in Zakarpattia, western Ukraine, the country’s ministry for internal affairs confirmed in a post on X.
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The boy was a student at the school and was arrested with a knife in his backpack while he was livestreaming the incident online, the post revealed.
It was accompanied by an image of the knife, phone, and rucksack seized by police at the scene.
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Commander Dominic Murphy, of the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command, described the intel and subsequent response as a “truly remarkable piece of work”.
“The swift actions by our officers alerting Ukrainian counterparts have helped to avert what could have been a potentially devastating attack at a school in Ukraine,” he said.
“It’s all the more remarkable when you consider the incredible difficulties those in Ukraine are facing while fighting a war, but thanks to our collective efforts, lives have almost certainly been saved.”
He urged people in the UK to report anything suspicious they see online to the Met’s internet unit so they can work with international partners to thwart other potential incidents.
