Cape Town April 6 (IOL) – On Easter Sunday a 15-year-old school girl from Kenwyn, Cape Town was taken off a flight from Cape Town to OR Tambo by authorities who suspected she was going on to board an international flight to join the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (IS).

Minister of State Security David Mahlobo has confirmed that she was taken off a British Airways flight late on Sunday afternoon, and that she has admitted that she was planning to join IS. “We can confirm that she was leaving the country with the intention of joining IS, and she had been actively engaged with social media networks.” Mahlobo said.
The girl, who will not be named in order to protect her identity, was found seated alone in business class and had disappeared nine hours earlier. When her grandparents called her for breakfast at 8am on Sunday morning, they realised that she had disappeared, and after breaking down her bedroom door saw she had escaped through the window.
Police and the Minister of State Security were notified of her disappearance, and the hunt to locate her began. “We alerted officials at all airports immediately, and had we not been notified in time, she would have left the country. I have spoken to both her father and grandfather and they are relieved that she has been found,” Mahlobo said. After being debriefed by State Security, the girl has been released back into the care of her family.
Evidence found in her bedroom suggested that she had transferred money to an unknown source, and other clues written on her school books suggested to her family that she had been in contact with IS recruiters. – ANA