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Mother Held In Turkey After Syria Travel Fears

Mother Held In Turkey After Syria Travel Fears

A mother from east London who was feared to be trying to travel to Syria with her four children has been detained in Turkey.

The Metropolitan Police made an appeal last week in an attempt to trace the family who had gone missing from their home in Waltham Forest.

They were believed to have flown from London City Airport to Amsterdam last Tuesday.

Zahera Tariq, 33, has now been detained by Turkish authorities and the children are said to be safe and well.

British officers are now speaking to their counterparts in Turkey as the investigation continues.

Met Commander Richard Walton said: "I'd like to thank the public and media for their help and support with our appeal to locate this mother and her four young children over the weekend.

"We had very real concerns that she may have been planning to travel with her children to Syria and she has now been detained with the children in Turkey.

"I would also like to thank our police counterparts in the Netherlands and Turkey, with whom we continue to have excellent working relationships."

The Met said recently it believed more than 40 women and girls had travelled to Syria from the UK in the last year.

There are fears some of them have gone to parts of Syria controlled by the so-called Islamic State.