British schoolchildren may be targeted by hostile states to carry out acts of surveillance and sabotage, police have warned.

Detectives are said to have identified several plots during which teenagers were recruited by agents acting for Russia and Iran to act as criminal proxies.

According to Dominic Murphy, head of Scotland Yard’s counter-terrorism command, at least one person in their mid-teens has been arrested, and others have been investigated in recent months.

He also reported there has been a fivefold increase in work to tackle hostile state activity since 2018, with Russia, Iran and China behind most of it.

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However, the challenges are evolving, and a fifth of counter-terrorism policing’s casework now involves threats beyond traditional terrorism, primarily state-sponsored espionage, targeted violence and sabotage.

There have been 10 charges under the National Security Act since it came into force in December 2023.

Due to the success of Britain’s counter-intelligence work, it is believed hostile states have been increasingly using criminal proxies.

Earlier this month, three British men were found guilty of an arson attack which caused £1million worth of damage on a London warehouse linked to Ukraine, commissioned by the terrorist Russian Wagner Group.

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The ringleader, Dylan Earl, communicated with his Russian handler via a chatbot.

Counter-terrorism police have warned school-age children and those feeling "disillusioned" are particularly vulnerable to online manipulation and recruitment.

Vicki Evans, counter-terrorism policing’s senior national co-ordinator, has now urged parents and teachers to be “inquisitive” regarding the activity of children in their care.

She clarified the worry is not that people ideologically align with the views of the state threats, but rather they find themselves in an “online environment where they are encouraged or egged on to do something.”

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“The reality is people are being targeted to conduct this work," she said.

“They are then disposable to the individuals tasking them once they’ve been caught, and it will be the individual conducting the act who will be caught, and the handlers or the taskers will not come to their rescue or support them in any way.”

Evans added the aim was to raise awareness to these types of crimes, appealing to people to consider who may be asking them to do certain things, and consider the consequences.

She added: “Espionage operations target our democracy, target our institutions, they threaten to fracture public trust here in our communities and threaten to target the things that underpin our daily life and our way of life.”

It was also suggested that children might see these acts as a quick way to make money, despite the cash rarely materialising.

Another worry is that schoolchildren who are disillusioned may see this as a way to gain notoriety or prove themselves to others.

Officers have emphasised the vigilance needed to prevent these crimes should be considered alongside that needed to prevent children from becoming radicalised by extremists.

Parents, teachers and other professionals working with children have been advised to ask question to avoid young people being “inadvertently drawn into this sort of activity.”

As a result, anyone approached by people online about "proxy activities" has been urged to contact the police.