Terrorist gun attack plan in Scotland details revealed, as National Crime Agency report published

Details of apparent plan revealed by serious and organised crime agency

Counter terrorism officers from Britain’s serious and organised crime agency and Scotland’s national police force investigated what appears to have been plans for a terror attack on Scottish soil over the last eight months, according to a new report.

A major multi-agency police operation was focused on the “apparent preparation” for an attack involving firearms in the Edinburgh area, in what would have been the first such terror strike in Scotland since the Glasgow Airport attack in 2007.

Details of the plans are scarce, but are outlined in a report by the National Crime Agency (NCA) to the Scottish Police Authority. It notes the counter-terror investigation, known as Operation Ferulic, involved several specialists from the NCA’s major crime investigative support unit, who were drafted in to help Police Scotland, the lead investigating force.

The deployment included a national senior investigating officer adviser, a crime investigation support adviser, forensic clinical psychologists, behavioural investigative advisors, and interview advisors, all of whom supported the investigation and the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service in relation to “assessing and managing risk, interview preparation, and wider investigative suggestions and options”.

The motives for the apparent planned attack are not disclosed in the report, and nor is an exact location revealed. It states only the investigation was focused on the issue of a “firearms attack in the Edinburgh area”. The timing of any planned attack is unclear, but the NCA – the lead UK agency for investigating organised crime, including weapon and drug trafficking – held several meetings with Police Scotland between October last year and this March. The report does not disclose the outcome of the investigation.

Elsewhere, the NCA’s report to the authority notes that it was involved in 276 investigations in 2023/24, which disrupted serious and organised crime in Scotland – a 10 per cent increase on the previous year. Some 29 of those investigations were classed as ‘major impact’

Between last October and March, the NCA’s major crime investigative support unit provided advice and support to Police Scotland on 39 cases, and deployed officers on 46 occasions. The cases included murder, rape, suspicious or unexplained deaths, and missing persons.

The details of Operation Ferulic are disclosed in a report by the National Crime Agency. Picture: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

Operation Ferulic was not discussed during the Scottish Police Authority full board meeting, but Graeme Biggar, director general of the NCA, said one organised trend it had identified was an increase in cocaine coming into the country.

He said there had been an increase in individuals bringing “large quantities” of cannabis and cocaine in suitcases through airports. He said: “People have always done this, but we’re seeing it happen much more brazenly now – entire suitcases completely full of cocaine. There have been 28 individuals identified and stopped by Border Force at Glasgow and Edinburgh airports since February 1. That’s much more than we’ve seen before.”