Sixteen-Year-Old Girl Allegedly Tried to Fly to Syria to Join Jihad
A 16-year-old girl who allegedly attempted to fly to Syria to join a militant Islamist group was arrested at an airport in Nice on Saturday, French officials say. Her parents reportedly had no idea what she was planning.
According to TIME, police arrested the girl before she was able to board a flight headed to Turkey. Also arrested was an unnamed 20-year-old man who French authorities say recruited her and paid for her flight.
The facts of the case may sound startlingly familiar—that's because just last week, two female French teenagers were also picked up by authorities after allegedly attempting to travel to Syria to join militant groups.
French officials say as many as 800 French citizens have already migrated to Syria to fight alongside Islamist groups. According to NBC:
[French Interior Minister Bernard] Cazeneuve urged parents who suspect that their children are displaying signs of "violent radicalization" to call a hotline he created in late April. Since that time, 300 reports have been called in, a quarter of which were regarding children and 45 percent of which involved females, according to the Interior Ministry.
[image via AP]