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A foreign spy has been arrested in Turkey on suspicion of helping three east London schoolgirls travel to Syria to join Islamic State (IS).

The man reportedly works for the intelligence agency of a country that is part of the US-led coalition against IS, but authorities have so far not specified which country he is connected with.

Bethnal Green Academy pupils Shamima Begum, 15, Kadiza Sultana, 16, and 15-year-old Amira Abase, flew to Istanbul from Gatwick last month and are then believed to have boarded a second plane to Syria.

Detectives fear they are now at an IS training camp in Raqqa, where they are preparing to become so-called "jihadi brides" with IS militants.

Speaking to reporters today, Turkish foreign minister Mehmet Cavusoglu said the man arrested in connection with the girls' disappearance was not from the United States or any EU country.

Mr Cavusoglu said he had shared the information with his British counterpart - Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond, according to reports on Turkish television.

The girls' parents have criticised Scotland Yard over its handling of the case after it emerged that they were not told a 15-year-old fellow student had also travelled to Syria.

The Metropolitan Police handed letters to the schoolgirls about the student's disappearance which the group hid inside their school textbooks and never handed to their parents.

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe said "with the benefit of hindsight" the letters should have been delivered directly to the families.