PM tells airlines: Don’t let jihadi-risk girls fly
DAVID Cameron stepped into the row over three British “jihadi bride” schoolgirls by demanding tighter airport security to stop teenage runaways flying to terror hotspots.
Mr Cameron urged airlines to introduce “proportionate arrangements” to prevent “at risk children” reaching destinations like Syria and Iraq.
The Prime Minister said he has asked the Home Office and Department of Transport to thrash out tougher screening methods with the airlines.
His intervention came as Scotland Yard detectives arrived in Turkey to search for teenagers Shamima Begum, 15, Kadiza Sultana, 16, and Amira Abase,15.
The girls fled their east London homes and flew to Istanbul last week in what police fear is a mission to join the self-styled Islamic State.Concerns have been raised at the ease with which they breezed through security at London’s Gatwick Airport and boarded a Turkish Airlines flight.
Mr Cameron told MPs: “We need new proportionate arrangements with airlines to ensure that these at risk children are properly identified and questioned.
“What this incident has highlighted is the concerning situation where unaccompanied teenagers like these – who are not a known risk – can board a flight to Turkey without necessarily being asked questions by the airline.”
Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said: “There are serious questions about why Turkish Airlines allowed three 15 and 16-year-old girls unaccompanied onto a flight.
”Mr Cameron also demanded greater vigilance from social media operators after it emerged that the girls were radicalised during web contact with IS fanatics.
There are serious questions about why Turkish Airlines allowed three 15 and 16-year-old girls unaccompanied onto a flight
One of the teenagers was following as many as 70 extremists on social media and one was in touch with Aqsa Mahmood, a young Glaswegian woman who went to Syria two years ago.
All three were “straight A students”at Bethnal Green Academy, and were known to be at risk last December after a schoolfriend joined IS.
Scotland Yard detectives flew to Turkey after launching a desperate appeal for the girls to turn back before they crossed the border into Syria.
The girls’ head teacher Mark Keary denied yesterday that they were radicalised at school – despite four of his pupils having now been corrupted by IS.
Mr Keary said police spoke to the three in December and were confident they were not in danger.
“They indicated that there was no evidence that the girls were at risk of being radicalised or absconding.”
He said staff and students have been briefed by police, special antiradicalisation assemblies have been held and social media is banned on school computers.
