Colorado teens accused of trying to join ISIS
The FBI has tracked down three American teenage girls in Germany while they were en route to Syria to join militant groups, a law enforcement official told ABC News today.
The girls, who are from the Denver area, were trying “to fulfill what they believe is some vision that has been put out on a slick media campaign” by radical groups in Syria, including ISIS, the official said.
The girls have not been identified, but law enforcement officials said two are sisters — 15 and 17 years old — and one is 16 years old. The two sisters are from Somalia and the 16-year-old is from Sudan, according to a federal law enforcement source briefed on the case.
Our news partners in Denver, 7NEWS, learned the two sisters told family members that they were sick on Friday and did not go to school. They were not home when their father returned that evening and he reported them missing.
The girls’ father was contacted by another parent who said his daughter was missing and that she had taken her passport. The father of the sisters said he checked and found $2,000 missing along with their passports. That’s when he contacted the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office.
The girls were persuaded to travel overseas and were in contact with someone in Germany, the official said, noting that someone close to them notified authorities.
They were turned around and sent back to the United States, the official said, noting that because they are minors it remains unclear whether they will be charged with anything or be arrested.
