LONDON — Turkish police searched Monday for three missing British teen girls believed to be headed to Syria to join the Islamic State extremist group, as their frightened families issued pleas begging the girls to return home.
The girls, said to be “straight-A students” from the same east London school, disappeared Feb. 17 without leaving any messages.
Authorities said they boarded a Turkish Airlines plane to Istanbul.
The relatives of Shamima Begum and Amira Abase, both 15, and Kadiza Sultana, 16, broke down in tears as they spoke of their fears in interviews on British TV.
“We miss you. We cannot stop crying,” said Abase Hussen, Amira’s father, clutching a teddy bear Amira gave to her mother on Mother’s Day. “Please, think twice. Don’t go to Syria.”
The case has captured public attention in Britain, where authorities say at least 500 people have left for Syria to join extremists and fear they pose a terrorism threat when they return.
Authorities have been criticized after it emerged that, before the girls disappeared, Shamima had online contact with a fourth girl, Aqsa Mahmood, who left in 2013 for Syria to become a “jihadi bride.”
Aamer Anwar, the lawyer for Mahmood’s family, argued that the police failed to engage with communities.
“I cannot see why this isn’t considered a child protection issue,” he said. “These young girls have been groomed online. They have been trafficked.”
The girls took advantage of lax regulations governing international air travel for unaccompanied minors, which makes it relatively easy for teens to travel without parental permission.
Many major airlines place no restrictions on children older than 12. The Turkish Airlines website states written permission is needed for children between 7 and 12 to travel unaccompanied, but does not mention rules for children older than 12.
European Union officials have discussed tightening these rules in recent months.
In Turkey, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s spokesman said Monday that Turkish and British authorities were working to locate the girls.
