Three British teenage jihadists were in custody last night after a dramatic security operation stopped them joining Islamic State fighters in Syria. A pair of 17-year-old schoolboys and a 19-year-old man were intercepted in Turkey after their parents realised they had fled to join the terrorist group. They dialled 999 and British police quickly tipped off their Turkish counterparts. Officials swooped on the group within minutes of their flight touching down in Istanbul. Three British teenagers who were stopped in Turkey while allegedly on their way to Syria to join the Islamic State are now back in the UK, police say . The three were brought back to Britain where they were questioned at a high-security London police station on suspicion of preparing acts of terrorism. But last night they were released on bail. A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: ‘They have been bailed to return to a central London police station pending further inquiries.’ Investigators hope to discover how they planned to reach the war zone and why they decided to try to do so. The case highlights the difficult balancing act the security services face in dealing with would-be jihadists desperate to sign up to the militant Islamist cause. Security chiefs are increasingly desperate to get into often closed communities and understand what is attracting our young people to such a barbaric organisation. Yet criminal suspects are unlikely to talk freely about their motivation or reveal the identities of other potential militants. Last week Scotland Yard chief Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe said the three schoolgirls who fled to Syria from East London would not face prosecution if they came home. This is despite the fact they successfully reached IS and at least two of them are known to have communicated with wanted terrorists. Two 17-year-old boys from north-west London were detained in Istanbul along with a third male aged 19, the Met Police have said. They are believed to have been travelling to join Isis (stock picture) The latest three teenagers were seized at Istanbul airport on Friday evening towards the end of their journey to the Syrian border. They arrived after travelling via Barcelona, possibly in a bid to evade detection. The two 17-year-olds, both from North-West London, were caught after a tip-off from their families. But the security services discovered they were travelling with a third man, aged 19, and he too was arrested. The three travellers, whose initials are said to be GH, MA and MNG, were arrested on suspicion of preparing terrorist acts after police returned them to London on Saturday morning. The offence carries a potential life sentence. Sources in Turkey said there is some evidence the three communicated with terrorists about how best to evade the authorities. None of them are believed to be connected to any high-profile IS terrorists. More than 600 Britons have fled the country for Syria and Iraq since the appalling explosion of violence in the region began. They include 22 women and girls who have travelled in the past 12 months, many of whom wanted to become ‘jihadi brides’. IS controls huge areas of the two countries and has attracted thousands of foreign fighters to its cause. Turkey has faced criticism for not controlling its border with Syria, but has accused European states of failing to prevent would-be jihadists from leaving in the first place. It comes just weeks after an international police hunt was launched to find three London schoolgirls who travelled to Istanbul on their journey to Syria . On the run: (l to r) Amira Abase, Shamima Begum and Kadiza Sultana paid for their flights out of the UK after stealing jewellery from their family. They are understood to be in the ISIS stronghold of Raqqa . Friday’s dramatic operation came only weeks after the three runaway British schoolgirls flew to Turkey before travelling overland to Syria. The families of Shamima Begum and Amira Abase, both 15, and Kadiza Sultana, 16, have lashed out at police and others for failing to stop them. But their plight has raised questions about why the families themselves did not spot their conversion to radical Islam. On Saturday the Daily Mail revealed the identity of another girl, a close friend of the trio, who left Britain before them in December. Sharmeena Begum, 15, disappeared from Bethnal Green Academy and flew to Istanbul from Gatwick. Those closest to all four girls suspect they were groomed by Islamists using social networking sites and secretive internet messaging software. There are also suspicions the trio kept in touch with Sharmeena who passed on information about how to follow in her footsteps. The schoolgirls are understood to be in the terror group’s de facto capital Raqqa. The authorities in Turkey said the quick deportation of the latest travellers showed how their efforts to combat the flood of extremists is working. One source said: ‘The Turkish are willing to act quickly and arrest people but they do not see this as their problem. That is why the suspects were sent back to the UK so quickly. No one here wants to deal with them any longer than they have to.’ Sharmeena Begum ran away from home in December to join Islamic State . The father of a 15-year-old British girl who fled to Syria questioned yesterday why police kept her disappearance secret. Sharmeena Begum ran away from home in December to join Islamic State – followed last month by her three best friends. But the GCSE student from East London was not named until the Daily Mail revealed she was the first of the four schoolgirls to abandon her family to become a jihadi bride. Sharmeena’s father, Mohammad Uddin, 38, said a high-profile appeal for information might have helped find his daughter before she reached Syria. Mr Uddin said: ‘Maybe a police appeal could have helped. The police just told me, “Interpol are doing their best to find her”. Then after three days they told me they maybe couldn’t do any more.’ The Bethnal Green Academy pupil was apparently radicalised via her iPhone without her family’s knowledge by internet jihadists. Her distraught father last heard from her in a tearful conversation a fortnight after she went missing, when she told him she was never coming home. Mr Uddin said: ‘Many times I told the police, “do whatever you need to – I want my daughter back”. I will do anything to get her back.’ Last night the families of Sharmeena’s friends who followed her to Syria – Shamima Begum, Kadiza Sultana and Amira Abase – appealed to their children to come home, saying they felt their loss ‘more acutely’ on Mother’s Day, but again blamed the authorities for their daughters’ disappearances. Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article.
Two 17-year-old boys from north-west London detained in Turkey .
Their parents phoned 999 in Britain after realising they were missing .
Authorities quickly made contact with Turkish counterparts to block them .
The boys were arrested at Istanbul airport along with a 19-year-old man .
Three British teenage jihadists were in custody last night after a dramatic security operation stopped them joining Islamic State fighters in Syria. A pair of 17-year-old schoolboys and a 19-year-old man were intercepted in Turkey after their parents realised they had fled to join the terrorist group. They dialled 999 and British police quickly tipped off their Turkish counterparts. Officials swooped on the group within minutes of their flight touching down in Istanbul. Three British teenagers who were stopped in Turkey while allegedly on their way to Syria to join the Islamic State are now back in the UK, police say . The three were brought back to Britain where they were questioned at a high-security London police station on suspicion of preparing acts of terrorism. But last night they were released on bail. A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: ‘They have been bailed to return to a central London police station pending further inquiries.’ Investigators hope to discover how they planned to reach the war zone and why they decided to try to do so. The case highlights the difficult balancing act the security services face in dealing with would-be jihadists desperate to sign up to the militant Islamist cause. Security chiefs are increasingly desperate to get into often closed communities and understand what is attracting our young people to such a barbaric organisation. Yet criminal suspects are unlikely to talk freely about their motivation or reveal the identities of other potential militants. Last week Scotland Yard chief Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe said the three schoolgirls who fled to Syria from East London would not face prosecution if they came home. This is despite the fact they successfully reached IS and at least two of them are known to have communicated with wanted terrorists. Two 17-year-old boys from north-west London were detained in Istanbul along with a third male aged 19, the Met Police have said. They are believed to have been travelling to join Isis (stock picture) The latest three teenagers were seized at Istanbul airport on Friday evening towards the end of their journey to the Syrian border. They arrived after travelling via Barcelona, possibly in a bid to evade detection. The two 17-year-olds, both from North-West London, were caught after a tip-off from their families. But the security services discovered they were travelling with a third man, aged 19, and he too was arrested. The three travellers, whose initials are said to be GH, MA and MNG, were arrested on suspicion of preparing terrorist acts after police returned them to London on Saturday morning. The offence carries a potential life sentence. Sources in Turkey said there is some evidence the three communicated with terrorists about how best to evade the authorities. None of them are believed to be connected to any high-profile IS terrorists. More than 600 Britons have fled the country for Syria and Iraq since the appalling explosion of violence in the region began. They include 22 women and girls who have travelled in the past 12 months, many of whom wanted to become ‘jihadi brides’. IS controls huge areas of the two countries and has attracted thousands of foreign fighters to its cause. Turkey has faced criticism for not controlling its border with Syria, but has accused European states of failing to prevent would-be jihadists from leaving in the first place. It comes just weeks after an international police hunt was launched to find three London schoolgirls who travelled to Istanbul on their journey to Syria . On the run: (l to r) Amira Abase, Shamima Begum and Kadiza Sultana paid for their flights out of the UK after stealing jewellery from their family. They are understood to be in the ISIS stronghold of Raqqa . Friday’s dramatic operation came only weeks after the three runaway British schoolgirls flew to Turkey before travelling overland to Syria. The families of Shamima Begum and Amira Abase, both 15, and Kadiza Sultana, 16, have lashed out at police and others for failing to stop them. But their plight has raised questions about why the families themselves did not spot their conversion to radical Islam. On Saturday the Daily Mail revealed the identity of another girl, a close friend of the trio, who left Britain before them in December. Sharmeena Begum, 15, disappeared from Bethnal Green Academy and flew to Istanbul from Gatwick. Those closest to all four girls suspect they were groomed by Islamists using social networking sites and secretive internet messaging software. There are also suspicions the trio kept in touch with Sharmeena who passed on information about how to follow in her footsteps. The schoolgirls are understood to be in the terror group’s de facto capital Raqqa. The authorities in Turkey said the quick deportation of the latest travellers showed how their efforts to combat the flood of extremists is working. One source said: ‘The Turkish are willing to act quickly and arrest people but they do not see this as their problem. That is why the suspects were sent back to the UK so quickly. No one here wants to deal with them any longer than they have to.’ Sharmeena Begum ran away from home in December to join Islamic State . The father of a 15-year-old British girl who fled to Syria questioned yesterday why police kept her disappearance secret. Sharmeena Begum ran away from home in December to join Islamic State – followed last month by her three best friends. But the GCSE student from East London was not named until the Daily Mail revealed she was the first of the four schoolgirls to abandon her family to become a jihadi bride. Sharmeena’s father, Mohammad Uddin, 38, said a high-profile appeal for information might have helped find his daughter before she reached Syria. Mr Uddin said: ‘Maybe a police appeal could have helped. The police just told me, “Interpol are doing their best to find her”. Then after three days they told me they maybe couldn’t do any more.’ The Bethnal Green Academy pupil was apparently radicalised via her iPhone without her family’s knowledge by internet jihadists. Her distraught father last heard from her in a tearful conversation a fortnight after she went missing, when she told him she was never coming home. Mr Uddin said: ‘Many times I told the police, “do whatever you need to – I want my daughter back”. I will do anything to get her back.’ Last night the families of Sharmeena’s friends who followed her to Syria – Shamima Begum, Kadiza Sultana and Amira Abase – appealed to their children to come home, saying they felt their loss ‘more acutely’ on Mother’s Day, but again blamed the authorities for their daughters’ disappearances. Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article.
19-year-old man were intercepted in Turkey after to Britain where they were questioned at a 17-year-old boys from north-west London were detained in Istanbul along with a third male aged at Istanbul airport on Friday evening towards the