Teenage girl trying to join Isis hauled off London plane

The teen, who hasn't been named, is just one of many young women who have fled Britain to join Isis ranks as jihadi brides. Photo / Thinkstock

A 15-year-old was stopped from joining the ever-growing band of British girls fleeing to Syria to join ISIS fighters after police stopped her plane on the runway seconds before it was about to take off.

The young girl had secretly saved up to buy a ticket from London to Istanbul and planned to continue her journey through Turkey and over the border into Syria.

Her family, who had no idea she had extremist views, reported her missing and Scotland Yard tracked her down to a jet about to leave Britain.

After rushing to Heathrow officers realised the girl's plane was already taxiing along the runway, so the pilot was ordered to stop and the girl was taken home.

But it emerged today another British 15-year-old girl was not spotted on board and she was able to continue on her journey to join fighters.

The case is the latest in a series of cases where British teenage girls have decided to flee for Syria - often to become jihadi brides.

A police source involved in the Heathrow raid on December said police ignored costs and disruption to stop the plane.

'The plane was taxiing down the runway but we managed to turn it round. This was a big decision to take because of all the disruption it caused. But we had to stop her going. It has probably saved her life,' he told the Evening Standard.

It appears it was treated as a missing person's inquiry and she was not arrested.

Police in Britain have been urging families to contact them if they believe their loved-ones are trying to leave for Syria so they can be stopped.

Detectives say young women are being manipulated online with glamorous descriptions of life in Syria with ISIS, only to suffer a miserable existence when they arrive.

Yusra Hussien, 15, from Bristol, left home in September but instead of going to class went to Heathrow where she caught a flight to Turkey.

She boarded a plane with a 17-year-old British girl Samya Dirie, who she met online and the two are now believed to be in Syria, and may have married jihadist fighters.

Police failed to stop schoolgirl Miss Dirie despite being told she had run away with her passport.

Three hours after her panicked parents alerted officers that she was missing, she was allowed to fly from Heathrow to Turkey.

Her exit may have prompted the urgent response in the latest Heathrow case.

In June 'terror twins' Zahra and Salma Halane, both 16, of Chorlton, Manchester, are thought to have married in the war-torn nation since disappearing overnight from their home.

Both have insisted that Allah had 'chosen' for them to be in Syria.

The pair have 28 GCSEs between them and were planning to become doctors, having just finished their first year of sixth-form college, but were said to have been radicalised over the internet.

Their father Ibrahim and mother Khadra travelled to the region to try to bring them home, but without success. The couple have 10 children and their 21-year-old son Ahmed is said to be fighting with Al Shabaab, a militant group in Somalia.

An ever-growing band of young women have left their families in Britain to join the jihadi cause in Syria.

Researchers have identified six more such women through their online accounts - and warn this could be the tip of the iceberg.

Many have formed 'intense friendships' in the Islamic State stronghold of Raqqa, where they appear as content shopping with friends as declaring their hatred of the UK.

Academics at King's College in London said they have seen 'a big uptake' in the number of UK women going to Syria.

As many as 600 Britons are believed to have joined Islamic forces fighting President Bashar Assad in the last three years. But many have become disillusioned with the brutal IS regime and associated groups.

- Daily Mail