UK police believe 3 missing schoolgirls have entered Syria

Published on NewsOK
Modified: February 24, 2015 at 12:41 pm •
Published: February 24, 2015

[Linked Image]
CORRECTING DATE TO MONDAY FEB. 23 - This is a three
image combo of stills taken from CCTV issued by the
Metropolitan Police in London on Monday Feb. 23, 2015,
Kadiza Sultana, 16, left, Shamima Begum,15, centre and
15-year-old Amira Abase going through security at Gatwick
airport, before they caught their flight to Turkey on Tuesday
Feb 17, 2015. The three teenage girls left the country in a
suspected bid to travel to Syria to join the Islamic State
extremist group.(AP Photo/Metropolitan Police)

LONDON (AP) — Police investigating the disappearance of three British
schoolgirls said Tuesday they believe the teenagers are no longer in
Turkey and have crossed into Syria — likely joining dozens of other
young women leaving Europe to join terrorists.

The disappearance of the three British girls, aged 15 to 16,
underlines fears that growing numbers in Britain and Europe are lured
by online propaganda to join the Islamic State group and become
"jihadi brides."

Security officials say at least 500 Britons have traveled to Syria to
fight with extremists, often via Turkey. Experts estimate about 50
are female.

The three girls in the latest case — all described as "straight-A
students" from a highly-regarded London school — went missing from
their homes on Feb. 17. Authorities say they boarded a plane to
Istanbul.

The families of Shamima Begum, 15, Kadiza Sultana, 16, and Amira
Abase, 15, have implored them to return home.

A fourth girl from the school where the missing girls studied
disappeared in December and was thought to have left for Syria.
Police said detectives investigating that case spoke to the three
girls at the time, but there was nothing to suggest they were at risk
of radicalization.

Experts say most of the Islamic State group's recruitment of young
girls is conducted online on social media such as Facebook, and those
trying to make the journey invariably receive advice on how to
conceal their tracks.

Ross Frenett, a researcher at the London-based Institute for Strategic
Dialogue, said women living in western Europe want to join the
Islamic State group for many of the same reasons motivating men: A
vision of an Islamic utopia, a way to address the atrocities carried
out against Muslims worldwide.

"They believe they're going to a place where they will be empowered
and come of age. There is a real sense of sisterly adventure, an
idealistic view of what you're going to get into and a sense of
camaraderie," he said.

"An awful lot of them expect adventure but what they get is drudgery,
often domestic drudgery."

The case has raised questions about whether British officials were
doing enough to tackle radicalization and prevent young converts from
travelling to Syria.

A top Turkish official complained Monday that British officials waited
three days before seeking help in the case, losing valuable time.

Turkey's deputy prime minister said the girls arrived in Istanbul as
tourists, and British authorities did not share enough information
for Turkey to act quickly.

"It is a condemnable act, a shameful act that a country like Britain
... did not follow (the girls) closely," Bulent Arinc told reporters
in Ankara, the capital. "They woke up three days after the fact to
notify us."

"We don't have a mechanism that allows us to question or read the
minds of tourists," he added.

The Metropolitan Police disputed that account, however, saying Tuesday
that they notified the Turkish embassy in London a day after the
girls went missing.

___

AP writer Suzan Fraser contributed to this report from Ankara, Turkey.

"All that the South has ever desired was that the Union, as established by our forefathers, should be preserved, and that the government, as originally organized, should be administered in purity and truth." – Robert E. Lee