British girls helped by spy from country fighting Islamic State, says Turkish minister

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Thursday (March 12) that a spy working for a country in the U.S.-led coalition fighting Islamic State helped three British girls who are believed to have crossed into Syria via Turkey.

“Do you know who the person was who helped these girls? This person was caught. It turned out to be someone who worked in the intelligence services of a country in the coalition,” said Cavusoglu in an interview with broadcaster A Haber.

Thousands of foreigners from more than 80 nations including Britain, other parts of Europe, China and the United States have joined the ranks of Islamic State and other radical groups in Syria and Iraq, many of whom have crossed throughTurkey.

Turkey says it needs more information from foreign intelligence agencies to intercept them, pointing to cases such as the three teenage schoolgirls who left Britain last month.

Friends Amira Abase, 15, Shamima Begum, 15, and Kadiza Sultana, 16, are thought to have since entered Syrian territory controlled by Islamic State.

Cavusoglu said Turkey had managed to thwart the efforts of thousands of people taking the opposite journey, crossing from Syria into Turkey, without the help of other countries.

“We are talking about a terrorist organisation that controls a part of the area on the other side of our border. We have so far thwarted many people with efficient work in our fight. I will give you the latest figure from last week. So far, we have banned 12,519 people from entering Turkey. This number might have raised this week. We extradited 1,154 and half of these foreign fighters were caught and extradited without any information provided from their home country. We caught them and warded them off because of the work of our security and intelligence officials,” he said.

Cavusoglu did not specify which country the arrested spy was working for but said it was not a European Union country or the United States.

The coalition also includes countries such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan,Bahrain, Australia and Canada.

Cavusoglu said he shared the information with his British counterpart.

A Turkish official who declined to be identified told Reuters the person arrested is not a citizen of the country whose intelligence agency he is working for, and nor is he a Turkish citizen.

Islamic State seized large swaths of land last June, including territory close to the Turkish border.

The U.S.-led coalition is using mostly air power in an attempt to push the Sunni militant group back.

British police and the girls’ families have issued appeals for their daughters to return home after they flew to Istanbul from London on February 17.

Reuters/A HABER