Would be teenage girl jihadi taken from taxiing plane at Heathrow

Her family, who were described as Muslim with no extremist connections, had reported her missing only hours earlier. The girl, who has not been named, had intended to go and live in territory occupied by Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, and had been in contact with people overseas via social media.

She was interviewed but not arrested and has been returned to her family, who as yet have no plans to speak to the media. They are said to be trying to ease her back into a normal life.

A police source told the London Evening Standard: “The plane was taxiing down the runway but we managed to turn it round. This was a big decision to take because of all the disruption it caused but we had to stop her going. It has probably saved her life.”

Concerns have been raised over the ease with which a child managed to buy the ticket and board the aircraft alone, as well as her exposure to the kind of online radicalisation and grooming that inspires such a journey.

Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, the head of London’s Metropolitan police, said on Wednesday that at the very least more than 500 Britons are known to have travelled to Syria since the conflict began nearly four years ago, but many more may have travelled out as the flight paths have become increasingly difficult to track.

In an interview on LBC radio, Sir Bernard said: “There’s still people going out, it’s difficult to be precise, but you’re talking about possibly a handful of people a week.”

He added that there had been a rise in the number of younger people over the past 12 months. “People between the age of 16 and 18 and we’ve even had 15-year-olds, and we’ve seen a change as well ... we’ve seen more young girls or women going.”

Sir Bernard believes that the numbers are a low estimate. “Some have been intercepted so have been turned back from Turkey, these are the ones we know about. You could go to Spain and then go to Turkey and then Syria. It’s not hard. The numbers are significant, and of course there are still people coming back.”

Source http://m.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/would-be-teenage-girl-jihadi-taken-from-taxiing-plane-at-heathrow/story-fnb64oi6-1227160571202