3 missing London schoolgirls believed to be on way to Syria to join ISIS: police 

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Metropolitan PoliceMetropolitan police in the UK have issued an appeal for information on three missing schoolgirls who were reported missing and have appeared to be making their way to Syria to join ISIS. Kadiza Sultana, 16, Shamima Begum, 15 and a third 15-year-old female left London from Gatwick airport.

Three missing London schoolgirls are believed to be headed to Syria to join Islamic State militants, London Metro Police said.

Shamima Begum, 15, Kadiza Sultana, 16, and an unnamed 15-year-old girl went to Gatwick airport, outside of London, Tuesday after lying to their parents about their day plans, police said.

The “close friends” boarded a Turkish Airlines flight to Istanbul, Turkey, that landed at about 6:40 p.m. local time, police said. Surveillance footage captured the girls traveling through airport security.

Counter Terrorism Commander Richard Walton said police fear the girls, who are "straight-A students," are en route to Syria, where ISIS has a stronghold, according to USA Today.

The trio are friends with a 15-year-old girl who traveled to Syria in December, police said. Authorities fear they were going to meet up in the heart of terrorist territory, according to the Guardian.

Begum used the passport of her sister, Aklima Begum, 17, and might continue to travel under that name, police said. The family of the third girl requested that she not be named.

The "normal girls" were last seen at about 8 a.m. Tuesday, when they gave their families "plausible reasons as to why they would be out for the day," police said. One girl told her parents she was going to study -- the girls were on a midterm break from Bethnal Green Academy in east London.

Walton said police "are extremely concerned for the safety of these young girls" as their families are "devastated."

"We are reaching out to the girls using the Turkish media and social media in the hope that Shamima, Kadiza and their friend hear our messages, hear our concerns for their safety and have the courage to return now, back to their families who are so worried about them," Walton said.

The girls will have a much easier time coming back from Turkey but may not have that option once they are in Syria, police said.

"It is an extremely dangerous place and we have seen reports of what life is like for them, how restricted their lives become," Walton said. "It is not uncommon for girls or women to be prevented from being allowed out of their houses or if allowed out, only when accompanied by a guardian."

There is a chance Begum, Sultana and the third girl are still in Turkey because snow in the capital has limited travel capacity, Walton said.

As for how they got to Turkey, the airline is in hot water for not notifying police that the teens were traveling alone, Walton said. He believes police might have been able to "intervene" if they had known, he said.

The teens could be part of the growing and concerning number of girls and young women who try to join ISIS, Walton said.

In October, three Colorado teen girls were detained in Germany after federal authorities said they were on their way to Syria to join terrorists.

A few months earlier, Shannon Conley, 19, was stopped at Denver Airport on her way to Syria to marry an ISIS fighter she met online.

Begum, Sultana and the third girl all wear black thick rimmed glasses and stand between 5-foot-6-inches to 5-foot-7-inches tall, police said.

Police ask anyone with information about the trio to call the Anti-Terrorist hotline at 0800-789-321.

rblidner@nydailynews.com