MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Three London schoolgirls, who allegedly want to join the Islamic State (ISIL), managed to pass the Turkish-Syrian border, London Metropolitan Police said Tuesday.
The three girls, all students at Bethnal Green Academy in east London, travelled to Istanbul on February 17. According to Scotland Yard, the girls aged between 15 and 16 years old were heading to war-torn Syria through Turkey to join the Islamic State terrorist group.
UK police said they have been working closely with Turkish authorities who are providing all the necessary assistance for the investigation.
The BBC reported on Tuesday, that the London schoolgirls "were smuggled into Syria from Turkey four or five days ago."
The IS jihadist group that controls large areas of Syria and Iraq has been actively joined by the citizens of more than 80 countries, including at least 600 people from the UK, according to British security service estimates.
Many foreigners seeking to join the ISIL have entered Syria and Iraq through Turkey. The Turkish authorities say that in order to effectively detain such foreigners, they need more complete and timely information from Western intelligence agencies.
