The three missing U.K. teens that were last seen two weeks ago in London have been spotted in surveillance videos at a bus stop in Turkey, before reportedly slipping into Syria to join ISIS.
The teenage girls — Shamima Begum, 15, Kadiza Sultana, 16, and Amira Abase, 15 — are believed to have boarded a flight from London's Gatwick Airport to
Istanbul on Feb. 17, according to USA Today. Now, three people believed to be the missing girls can be seen in a surveillance video taken at the Bayrampasa bus station in Istanbul. The clip was shown on Turkey's A Habar TV this week.
Scotland Yard said the girls, who were students at the Bethnal Green Academy, are now believed to be in Syria.
British officials told BBC News that ISIS militants likely met the girls at the Turkey/Syrian border.
BBC News reported that the teenagers stayed in the offices of two bus companies at the terminal before catching a bus to Urfa, near the Syrian border, on Feb. 18. Officials said the girls were likely taken from Urfa to a border crossing point by people smugglers.
According to the time codes on the video, it appears the teenagers were at the Istanbul bus terminal for almost 18 hours, leaving on Feb. 18.
About 60 women and girls have now traveled to Syria, including about 22 in the last year, British authorities said.
"When I say young, all but four of those 22 were aged 20 or younger," deputy assistant commissioner Helen Ball, the senior national coordinator of United Kingdom's counter-terrorism, told BBC One.
"The last five who have travelled were aged 15 and 16, so this is a growing problem and it is one of real concern. The more everyone involved in travel understands this problem and can be alerted and can be vigilant and can look out for people, the better," Ball added.
Mark Keary, the traveling teenagers' head teacher at Bethnal Green Academy,
told The Independent that while he was "shocked and saddened" by the girls' actions, he did not believe they were radicalized at the school.
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