The three male British teens were stopped in Istanbul while attempting to travel to Syria to join up with ISIS, say police. It was confirmed by metropolitan police on Sunday that Turkish authorities stopped the two 17-year-old boys from northwest London after being tipped off by British authorities. They were with a 19-year-old, also from the UK. All three were headed to Syria.
The two 17-year-olds were reported missing on Friday, and were believed to be heading to Syria. The Huffington Post revealed that SkyNews is saying the three teens, identified by the initials GH, MNG, and MA, are believed to have first traveled to Spain, possibly believing they were being followed. The BBC has since announced the teens had indeed, traveled from Barcelona, Spain to Turkey.
A Turkish official told the BBC the two 17-year-olds were stopped at Istanbul’s Sabiha Gokcen airport, after being notified by UK authorities, and detained. The 19-year-old was questioned but allowed to go at the time. He was eventually arrested at the airport.
“This is a good and a clear example of how the security cooperation between Western intelligence agencies and Turkey should work,” the official added.
The three young men were returned to the UK at around 11:10 p.m. where they were arrested on suspicion of preparation of terrorist acts under section five of the Terrorism Act 2006.They were taken to a central London police station where they remain under custody. The parents were notified of their return and arrest.
MP Keith Vaz, chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee, commented on this latest detention, saying, the flow of young people going to Syria is “on a much larger scale than we envisaged.” Vaz had high praise for the cooperation shown by Turkish authorities in helping to apprehend and return the teens to the UK.
“I welcome the action that has been taken by the Turkish authorities,” he said. “We need to prevent people going in the first place and that is why parents need to be vigilant but we also need cooperation from the Turkish authorities in order to stop them from going further. We need to be vigilant. Clearly this flight of young people to Turkey in order to go to Syria is on a much larger scale than we envisaged.”
