Turkey arrests Syria-bound British family

Turkish police tracked and arrested the couple and their four children within 24 hours of being notified by British authorities.

ANKARA // Turkish police arrested a British family in the capital Ankara after being tipped off that they would try to cross the Syrian border to join ISIL militants.

“We received the intelligence from British police on April 19 that a British couple with four children may cross into Syria to join ISIL,” A Turkish official said on condition of anonymity.

Turkish police found out that the couple had crossed from Greece into Kirklareli in eastern Thrace in the European part of Turkey on April 16.

The man, 33, and the woman, 29, have four children including a baby.

“Turkish police tracked the couple and arrested them in a hotel in the Ostim district of Ankara 24 hours after Britain’s notification,” said the official.

“The family, which is now being held by Ankara police, is expected to be deported by the end of this week.”

Turkey has long been criticised by its Western allies for not doing enough to halt the flow across its territory of European nationals seeking to join ISIL insurgents in Syria.

It was sharply criticised over the failure to stop three British teenage girls who crossed the Turkey-Syria border to join ISIL in February.

In recent months, Turkish police have arrested a number of mostly British suspects bound for Syria.

Turkey has called for increased cooperation with European countries on intelligence-sharing to stem the flow of would-be European militants.

* Agence France-Presse