Three British boys who travelled to Turkey hoping join Islamic State held in London

THREE British teenagers are being held in a London police station after being flown back to the UK this afternoon, officials have confirmed.

Three teenagers have travelled to Syria to join Islamic StateREUTERS

Three teenagers have travelled to Syria to join Islamic State

Two boys aged 17, from north-west London, and a man aged 19 were returned to Britain earlier today, the Metropolitan Police said.

They are believed to have gone missing from their homes on Friday and were later detained as they touched down at the airport in Turkey.

We need to prevent people going in the first place and that is why parents need to be vigilant

Keith Vaz, MP

All three young boys have been arrested "on suspicion of preparation of terrorist acts", officers confirmed.

Turkish authorities, who are understood to have been tipped-off by British intelligence the teens were travelling to Turkey via Spain, confirmed the boys had been deported.

"Officers alerted the Turkish authorities who were able to intercept all three males, preventing travel to Syria," a police spokesman added.

The wannabe extremists flew to Istanbul from Barcelona, in Spain, a Turkish official told the BBC.

The arrest comes after only weeks after three London schoolgirls entered Turkey hoping to join Islamic State in Syria as Jihadi Brides.

Amira Abase, 15, Shamima Begum, 15, Kadiza Sultana, 16 - are now believed to have reached the self-declared IS capital of Raqqa, in Syria.

Security services now estimate more than 600 Britons have travelled to Syria or Iraq to join militant groups, including the infamous killer known as "Jihadi John" who has appeared in several Islamic State beheading videos.

The increased involvement from young Europeans has raised fears over the possibility of Lone Wolf style attacks at home should the wannabe Jihadis return trained and further radicalised.

MP Keith Vaz, chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee, said the latest detention suggests the flow of young people intending to travel to Syria is "on a much larger scale than we envisaged".

"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."

Concerns about how Turkish authorities dealt with the disappearance of the three missing girls last month, raised by their families, proved how important it is to "act quickly", he added.

Islamic State controls swathes of territory in Syria and Iraq where it has declared an Islamic caliphate.

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