Scotland Yard says teenager has been returned to her family after going missing from home in east London

Police stopped a plane on a runway at Heathrow to prevent a 15-year-old girl from flying to Syria to join Islamist fighters, it has been reported.

The girl, from Tower Hamlets, east London, secretly saved and bought a ticket to Istanbul, Turkey, without her parents’ knowledge. Scotland Yard detectives rushed to the airport on Saturday when they found out about her plans and ordered the jet to turn around, the Evening Standard reported.

She has since been returned to her family and is said to be trying to resume a normal existence in London. But another girl of 15, who detectives discovered was travelling at the same time, managed to leave before police could intervene.

Scotland Yard issued a statement confirming that a 15-year-old girl from Tower Hamlets who went missing had been found and returned to her home, but did not give further details: “On Saturday 6 December, police received reports of a 15-year-old girl from Tower Hamlets missing from home. Police were able to locate her and she has since returned home safely.”

A police source told the Standard that the plane had been taxiing down the runway. “We managed to turn it round. This was a big decision to take because of all the disruption it caused. But we had to stop her going. It has probably saved her life.”

Islamic State (Isis) has made a conscious effort to recruit women as part of its propaganda war with the west. Counter-terrorism experts say it is unclear how many of the 500 Britons thought to have travelled to Syria to join Isis are women. But they believe there are about 200 western women in the country.

Last month, Isis launched the Zora Foundation, a media arm that has been described as an Isis “finishing school”, offering offers tips, advice and even recipes. Female followers of Isis are banned from fighting, and told to focus on marrying jihadist fighters and becoming mothers.

According to its website for women, the foundation is “interested in explosive belt and suicide bombing more than a white dress or a castle”. Videos are illustrated with clip art-style animations of sewing machines and cooking hobs.

Sasha Havlicek, from the Institute of Strategic Dialogue, said UK women played an important role in Isis’s online communications strategy – bolstering the group’s claim to be fighting a “decadent and morally corrupt” western society, which had no respect for women.

Melanie Smith from King’s College International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation, who has been tracking 21 British women who have joined Isis through their social media accounts, said the profile of Isis recruits had changed.

“The girls are getting younger,” she told the Guardian recently. “Typically 19 or 20. Nor do they seem to be particularly fanatical in their piety. The first recruits to Islamic State had practised an extreme interpretation of Islam all their lives.” The women responding now, she said, were “going for adventure, just like the young men”.