Four people were arrested in Britain at the Manchester airport on suspicion of terrorism on Wednesday. They were aged between 22-47 years and all hailed from the same town of Rochdale in the Greater Manchester. The four are believed to be kinsmen of other 9 arrested in Turkey earlier in April.
This follows the arrested of two other Britons on of them the 21-year-old Waheed Ahmed, son of a Labor Party lawmaker who was detained at the Turkey border together with 8 others as they trained to cross over to Syria. The top Britain Lawmaker’s Son was deported and arrested at the Birmingham Airport.
The arrests triggered a joint investigation into the group’s activities and reasons for trying to enter in Syria by the Great Manchester Police and the North West Counter Terrorism Unit.
Councilor Shakil Ahmed, Waheed’s father said that his son was a good Muslim kid with a bright future ahead of him and his loyalties in Britain and had no reason to be attempting to gain entry into Syria. Additionally, said that if he thought his son was at any risk of being radicalized he would have reported him to the police.
Waheed Ahmed was an undergraduate at Manchester University studying Politics and Sociology.
The arrests illicit the questions of what efforts are being made to curb youth radicalization? How in the dark or informed are parents of the radicalized youth about their children as well as the target recruits of the Islamic State.
