Man Arrested On 'Jihad Recruiting' Suspicion İn France

French police on Saturday arrested a 22-year-old man of Chechen origin on suspicion of recruiting people for jihad in Syria, daily Le Figaro reported Sunday.



The man is suspected of paying the plane ticket of a 16-year-old girl, who was set to board a flight to Turkey with intention to go to Syria, according to a statement issued by Interior Ministry.



After intercepting the girl at the airport in the southwestern city of Nice, police forces arrested her alleged recruiter, said the statement.



The family of the teenager had no idea about her intentions, it added.



According to Le Figaro, the staff of the border police was alerted by Turkey's flag carrier Turkish Airlines that the girl, escorted by a veiled woman, bought a plane ticket.



Unconvinced by the statements of the girl, who said she was travelling to Istanbul to visit her grandmother, border police contacted the Directorate of Homeland Security.



As part of efforts to stop its citizens waging "jihad" in Syria, the French Interior Ministry had launched a telephone hotline on 29 April for families to alert security officials if their children began to "show signs of Islamic radicalism".



In the beginning of July, a draft law was submitted at the French parliament to strengthen the fight against terrorism, due to the presence of numerous French nationals and European jihadists in Syria and Iraq.



 According to the rapporteur of the bill, Sebastien Pietrasanta, an estimated 343 French nationals are fighting in Syria, including seven children and fifty women. At least 33 French nationals are believed to have died in combat.



www.aa.com.tr/en - Ile-de-France