Three London schoolgirls who fled to Syria are believed to have
stolen family jewellery to fund their travel, police said Tuesday as the
trio’s relatives expressed disbelief at their actions.
School-friends Kadiza Sultana, 16, and 15-year-olds Shamima Begum and
Amira Abase, left their homes last month and flew to Istanbul, from
where they are believed to have joined Isis jihadists in Syria.
Giving evidence before parliament’s home affairs committee, Britain’s
national police lead on counter-terrorism, Mark Rowley, said the girls
paid a travel agent more than £1,000 (RM5,600) for their flights.
Asked where they found the money, he said: “We think it’s linked to
theft from families. We think it’s linked to taking jewellery from one
of their family members.”
However, family members later said that the girls must have found
additional funds elsewhere, as the jewellery that was missing was not of
great value.
“We haven’t lost £2000 worth of jewellery,” Shamima’s sister Renu Begum told ITV News.
“I feel there is someone out there helping in terms of funding
because there’s no way my sister has got the cash to fund herself,” said
Kadiza’s sister Halima Khanom.
“I really hope the police would now make it their business to
establish where these funds came from because it clearly wasn’t from
home,” added Kadiza’s cousin Fahmida Aziz.
The girls are among 26 British young women who have gone to join Isis
fighters in Syria, according to Rowley, who is assistant commissioner
of London’s Metropolitan Police.
But he said that so far “we have no evidence to suggest they are
involved in terrorism”, and they could return home to Britain without
facing charges.
Earlier, Abase’s father Hussen Abase told the committee that his
daughter was a victim – adding that he believed she had been “terrified”
by police attention following the flight of another
schoolfriend to
Syria in December.
Source: AFP
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