DENVER — Three teenage girls are back in Colorado Tuesday after officials say they tried to fly to Syria to join the extremist group ISIS.
The girls made it to Germany before being stopped.
Two of the three girls, who are between 15 and 17 years old, are sisters. A family member refused to say anything on camera but adamantly denied the allegations against the two teens inside.
A man who answered the door where the third girl supposedly lives threatened to call police.
His neighbors say they can’t believe the allegations against the kids.
The three girls arrived back in Denver Sunday night after their parents reported them missing Friday along with passports and $2,000 cash.
The parents alerted the FBI which made sure the teens were stopped when they arrived at the Frankfurt, Germany airport Friday.
Federal investigators suspect the girls may have been radicalized and had intentions of going to Syria through Turkey in order to join ISIS. They did not face any charges Tuesday.
Another Colorado teen stopped
Last month the attorney for another Colorado teen told a federal judge his client, Shannon Connelly, regretted trying to join ISIS last April.
Connelly, a Muslim convert who calls herself Halima, planned to move to Syria to join a man she met online. But she was arrested at Denver International Airport while trying to board a plane.
“Halima is fully aware that the fact she was arrested may have saved her,” the attorney said.
How are teens lured to ISIS?
We’ve been told teens were manipulated by the slick social media campaign ISIS runs.
It features high-quality productions that look like trailers for Hollywood action movies.
It puts out tweets that include links to videos showing ISIS fighters handing out candy to children.
Many of the productions feature people speaking English with what sounds like American accents.
The FBI director, talking about it during a recent visit to Denver, says ISIS is purposely trying to recruit American kids. “In their basement, in their pajamas, they can get all the inspiration they need all the training they need to emerge and commit some terrible act of jihad against the United States,” James Comey said.
The FBI director says tracking this public relations campaign and the people it impacts is one of the agency’s highest priorities right now.
