LONDON // British police have arrested six people on suspicion of terrorism after Turkish authorities stopped a group crossing the Syrian border.
Four people between the ages of 22 and 47 were arrested at Manchester airport in north-west England early Wednesday.
It came a day after the arrest of a 21-year-old man at Birmingham airport in central England and a 31-year-old man in Rochdale, near Manchester.
All six remain in police custody for questioning, according to the Greater Manchester Police.
The investigation was launched after nine people — five adults and four children — were stopped by Turkish authorities trying to cross into Syria last month.
Turkey deported the nine Britons, including the son of a local councillor from Rochdale, on Tuesday, two weeks after arresting them for attempting to cross into Syria to join extremists, Turkey’s official news agency Anatolia said.
The four children have been placed in the care of a guardian.
Thousands of foreigners have joined the ranks of ISIL and other militant groups in Syria and Iraq, many of them crossing via Turkey.
Turkish and other security services estimate some 600 are Britons, including Mohammed Emwazi, named “Jihadi John” by the British media, who has appeared in several ISIL beheading videos.
About half of the 600 are thought to have returned home.
Turkey is under pressure from its Western allies to halt the flow across its territory of European nationals seeking to join extremist groups such as ISIL and has made a number of arrests in recent months.
* Agence France-Presse, Reuters
