‘We miss you terribly and are extremely worried,’ say relatives of Shamima Begum, thought to have fled UK to join Islamic State

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

The family of missing schoolgirl Shamima Begum has issued a desperate plea to the teenager to not cross the border into Syria to join Islamic State (Isis), and to come home instead.

The heartfelt message to the 15-year-old came after police revealed that she and her two friends from the same London school had left Britain during the half-term break and caught a flight to Turkey, from where they were to be taken into the conflict-ravaged country.

Shamima and her close friends, Kadiza Sultana, 16, and a 15-year-old girl – named on Saturday night as Amira Abase – have been gone since Tuesday morning, and were captured on security cameras at Gatwick airport catching a flight to Istanbul.



The message from the Begum family, released through Scotland Yard, said: “We miss you terribly and are extremely worried about you. Please, if you hear this message, get in touch and let us know you are safe. We want you home with us. You belong at home with us. Syria is a dangerous place and we don’t want you to go there. Get in touch with the police and they will help to bring you home. You are not in any trouble.

“We understand you have strong feelings and want to help those you believe are suffering in Syria. You can help from home, you don’t have to put yourself in danger.”

Kadiza’s family released a similar statement which said: “We are not angry with you and you have not done anything wrong. We miss you terribly, especially Mum, and things have not been the same without you.”

Amira’s family named the missing girl for the first time in a statement in which they also appealed for her to return home.

The Abase family said: “Amira, we miss you so much, everyone, your family and your friends.

“We want you to come home as soon as possible; all we are hoping for is you to come home safe, we love you so much.

“Please come home Amira, everyone is missing you. You are strong, smart, beautiful and we are hoping you will make the right decision.

“We miss you more that you can imagine. We are worried and we want you to think about what you have left behind.”



Police are urgently trying to trace the trio. Scotland Yard revealed the girls had been spoken to by officers investigating the disappearance of a fellow pupil – a 15-year-old girl – who fled to Syria in December.

But there was “nothing to suggest at the time” that the girls were at risk and their disappearance has “come as a great surprise, not least to their own families”, a spokesman said.

David Cameron said the girls’ disappearance was deeply concerning, and pledged that the UK will do everything it can to bring them home. He urged schools to recognise their role in the “fight against Islamist extremist terror”.

Speaking in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, the prime minister said: “It is deeply concerning and obviously our authorities will do everything we can to help these girls.

“But it does make a broader point, which is the fight against Islamist extremist terror is not just one that we can wage by the police and border control.

“It needs every school, every university, every college, every community to recognise they have a role to play.

“We all have a role to play in stopping people from having their minds poisoned by this appalling death cult.”

Commander Richard Walton, head of the Met’s counter-terror command, said there was was a good chance the three girls were still in Turkey after snow storms brought travel disruption to Istanbul.

The force, he said, has been increasingly concerned by a growing trend of young girls showing an interest or intent in joining Isis, an organisation notorious for its barbaric treatment of hostages and oppression of women.

Salman Farsi, a spokesman for the East London Mosque, said he believed the girls had been misled and manipulated.

“I do not know what was promised to them,” he said. “It is just sad. We have not had anything like this before in our community.

“I do not know what was told to them but if they do go to Syria, it is a war zone and there are serious ramifications for going into a war zone.



“Some of the things we have seen happening in Syria are not very nice. We just want to see them brought back.”

The girls left their homes before 8am on Tuesday providing their families with “plausible” reasons as to why they would be out for the day, police said.



They boarded a Turkish Airlines flight, TK1966, which departed from Gatwick at 12.40 and landed in Istanbul at 18.40 local time.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Kadiza Sultana, 16, who is thought to be attempting to reach Syria via Turkey.

Turkish Airlines did not tell police the girls were on board.

Police might have been able to intervene before the girls departed had they been notified by the airline.



Walton said: “The choice of returning home from Syria is often taken away from those under the control of Islamic State, leaving their families in the UK devastated and with very few options to secure their safe return.



“If we are able to locate these girls while they are still in Turkey, we have a good possibility of being able to bring them home to their families.”



Rushanara Ali, the MP for Bethnal Green and Bow, said there was “deep concern” in the community at the way young people were being radicalised.



She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “This is like grooming, this is child exploitation, and in the worst-case scenario they are potentially being used as weapons of war in those countries.”



The shadow home secretary, Yvette Cooper, said: “The idea of 15-year-old British schoolgirls setting off to Syria is very disturbing, and shows that more action is urgently needed to stop young people being drawn into extremism and conflict, and to help families and communities who are trying to counteract extremist recruitment messages.”



Shamima is described as about 5ft 7in tall, and wearing black thick-rimmed glasses, a black hijab, a light brown and black leopard print scarf, a dark red jumper, black trousers and jacket and carrying a dark blue cylindrical shape holdall with white straps.



Kadiza is described as 5ft 6in and of slim build. She was wearing black spectacles, a long black jacket with a hood, a grey striped scarf, a grey jumper, dark red trousers and carrying a black holdall.



They are both British nationals of Bangladeshi heritage and both speak English with a London accent and also speak Bengali.



Amira is described as 5ft 6in and of slim build, wearing black thick-rimmed glasses, a black headscarf, a long dark green jacket with a fur-lined hood, a light yellow long-sleeved top, black trousers, white trainers and carrying a black Nike holdall. She also speaks English.