Australian police arrested three women accused of supporting Islamic State jihadists after they returned from Syrian refugee camps with their children for the first time in years. [Getty]
Three women who allegedly travelled to Syria to support Islamic State jihadists were arrested on Thursday as they returned home to Australia for the first time in years, police said.
The women and their children — all Australian citizens — landed on Thursday evening after securing passage from Syrian refugee camps where they have languished since the Islamic State group’s demise.
Police said the women, aged 31, 32 and 53, had been taken into custody after arriving at Sydney and Melbourne airports.
A fourth woman travelling with the group had not been arrested.
Police said earlier the women could be charged with “terrorism offences” such as travelling to a banned area and even “engaging in slave trading”.
Hundreds of women from Western nations were lured to the Middle East as the Islamic State group gained prominence in the early 2010s, in many cases following husbands who had signed up as jihadist fighters.
Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and others are still grappling with how to treat citizens stranded after the group collapsed.
