South African girl, on her way to IS, detained

CAPE TOWN, South Africa, April 7 (UPI) -- A girl, 15, was detained at the Cape Town, South Africa, airport after she expressed an interest in traveling to join Islamic State militants.

"We are still conducting further investigation. The girl over the past period has been using technology on social media platforms interacting with strange people and reading material that suggested she expressed an interest in joining a terrorist group called ISIS (Islamic State)," State Security Minister David Mahlobo told broadcaster eNCA. "We got our agencies to secure all the important exit points in the country."

The girl, unidentified except that she is a South African citizen, was found aboard a British Airways plane bound for Johannesburg. Mahlobo added it remained unclear how she was recruited or who arranged her flight, saying, "We can confirm that she was planning to leave the country with the intention of joining Isil (Islamic State), and had been actively engaged with social media networks."

Her grandparents reported her missing on Sunday from her home in Kerwyn, a suburb of Cape Town. Her passport was also missing. After she was taken from the plane and questioned, she was returned to her family.

The Pew Research Center, a U.S. research organization, has estimated that about 13,500 people, largely from industrialized western countries, have pledged allegiance to Islamic State.