As further Syria arrests made charity says 'Muslim homes must be educated on online radicalisation'

An 18-year-old from Birmingham was detained on suspicion of preparing to travel to Syria to join militant group Islamic State, West Midlands Police said.

He was arrested by counter-terrorism officers at his home in Hodge Hill at 7am, in what police said was a pre-planned and intelligence-led operation.

It follows the arrest of a 19-year-old man and two 17-year-old boys from north-west London on Saturday, on suspicion of preparing terrorist acts.

The three were stopped by officials in Turkey as they tried to travel to Syria and returned to the UK over the weekend.

All three have been bailed while investigations continue.

The families of two of the three London teenagers arrested reportedly raised the alarm to police, leading to the trio being detained by the Turkish authorities.

On Friday police were made aware the two younger boys had gone missing and were believed to be travelling to Syria.

Inquiries revealed they had travelled with a third person, the 19-year-old man.

The families of the younger boys alerted officers when the pair did not return from Friday prayers, according to reports.

A Met police spokesman said: "Officers alerted the Turkish authorities who were able to intercept all three males, preventing travel to Syria.

"On Saturday, March 14 the three males returned to the UK and at approximately 11.10pm were arrested on suspicion of preparation of terrorist acts contrary to section five of the Terrorism Act 2006.

"They have been bailed to return to a central London police station pending further enquiries."

The trio are reported to have travelled to Spain before taking a flight to Turkey - a route taken by Hayat Boumedienne, the widow of one of the terrorists who carried out the Charlie Hebdo attack in Paris in January - though the Foreign Office could not confirm this.

It comes just weeks after an international manhunt was launched to find three London schoolgirls who travelled to Istanbul on their journey to Syria.

However, Shamima Begum, 15, Amira Abase, also 15, and Kadiza Sultana, 16, who are pupils at Bethnal Green Academy, are now feared to have reached the conflict zone to become so-called "jihadi brides" with Islamic State.

The families of the three girls yesterday released a statement appealing for them to come home immediately.

Saying they felt their loss "more acutely" on Mother's Day, the families also criticised authorities, saying: "With respect to the disappearance of our children we have been disappointed by the handling of this matter by the school, Met Police and the local authority, all of whom we feel failed to act appropriately and pass on vital information to us or indeed between each other."

About 600 Britons are believed to have travelled to Syria and Iraq since the conflict began, according to Scotland Yard assistant commissioner Mark Rowley, the national policing lead for counter-terrorism.

Speaking last month, he added that around half are believed to have returned to the UK.

MP Keith Vaz, who chairs the Home Affairs Select Committee, said the latest arrests suggest the flow of young people intending to travel to Syria is "on a much larger scale than we envisaged".

"I welcome the action that has been taken by the Turkish authorities," he said.

"We need to prevent people going in the first place and that is why parents need to be vigilant but we also need co-operation from the Turkish authorities in order to stop them from going further.

"We need to be vigilant. Clearly this flight of young people to Turkey in order to go to Syria is on a much larger scale than we envisaged."

Concerns about how Turkish authorities dealt with the disappearance of the three missing girls last month, raised by their families, proved how important it is to "act quickly", he added.

Sajda Mughal, director of the JAN Trust which offers workshops to Muslim parents on the dangers of online radicalisation, said: "The detaining of the boys in Istanbul highlights now a more joined up approach of working which is what is required if anyone has left the UK.

"The route to Syria is through Turkey and this case has shown that the agencies managed to stop them from getting into Syria as they communicated with each other.

"Whilst these cases are coming out in the media and people become aware, this is not enough to tackle the issue of radicalisation.

"What is required is that Muslim homes across the UK must be educated on the issue and online radicalisation to take ownership and so that they can safeguard their children."

Brent Council has confirmed that all three teenagers who have been bailed until a date in early May are from the north west London borough.

Council leader Muhammed Butt welcomed the quick actions of their families, saying that their decision to call authorities was "vital" in getting the youngsters home safely.

He said: "It is good to know that these young men are now safely home with their families. This is because the families involved decided to call the authorities as soon as they realised their children were missing.

"This quick action was vital as it meant the police and border authorities were able to work effectively together to bring them home safe and sound.

"I would like to thank the Met Police and Turkish authorities for their swift action in returning the boys back to the UK in less than 48 hours."

He added that it was important for everyone in the community to work together to ensure people in danger of making the wrong choice get the guidance and support they need.

After meeting the boys' families, Mr Vaz said: "The families of the two of the young men that I met are honourable, decent, hard-working British citizens who knew absolutely nothing about their sons' decisions. They acted swiftly, with the support of the leader of the council, to alert the police.

"The police need to be commended for the speed with which they dealt with this case. I have spoken to the Turkish ambassador to congratulate him on the action taken by the Turkish authorities.

"This is a rare good news story in the fight against terrorism and is a lesson to us all that we need to be vigilant against those who seek to groom our young men and women in this way."

Speaking in the Commons, Security Minister James Brokenshire said he could not comment on the specifics of the recent arrests but told MPs: "It has been reported three young men were arrested at the weekend after attempting to travel from Turkey to Syria.

"This reflects the good working relationship we have with the Turkish authorities.

"MPs will understand I cannot comment on the specifics because there is an on-going investigation but I will say those seeking to travel to engage in terrorist activity in Syria or Iraq should be in no doubt we will take the strongest possible action to protect our national security, including prosecuting those who break the law."

Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said: "It is good news that three teenagers have been stopped from entering Syria this weekend, but much more is needed to stem the flow of radicalised teenagers from the UK.

"The fact that so many young British people are being groomed and radicalised online or through friends and are attempting to get to Syria to become part of murderous organisations is of deep concern to all of us.

"It also shows that the Government's Prevent programme isn't working well enough. The police can't do this alone.

"Community-led prevention work is vital, yet the Tories have downgraded this programme over the last four years. And there isn't enough work done with friends and contacts of those travelling to Syria to prevent them being drawn in too.

"For example, after one girl from Bethnal Green Academy left for Syria before Christmas, work should have been done immediately with her friends and their families to stop them becoming involved.

"Everyone recognises that this is a complex problem with no single answer, but more needs to be done to prevent extremism and radicalisation taking hold."