REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, DENVER - Three teenage girls from suburban Denver may have been trying to join Islamic State militants in Syria after stealing their parents' money and flying to Germany, according ti authorities on Tuesday.

The girls — two sisters, ages 17 and 15, and their 16-year-old friend — were reported missing after they skipped school Friday, but the families had no indication of where they might have gone, said Glenn Thompson, bureau chief of the Arapahoe County Sheriff's Department.

They were stopped at the Frankfurt, Germany, airport over the weekend by FBI agents and returned to Colorado where they were reunited with their families, FBI spokeswoman Suzie Payne said.

A US official said the girls were headed toward Turkey en route to Syria and that investigators were now reviewing evidence, including the girls' computers.

Another US official called the case "concerning" both to the community and to the country in general. The official said the evidence gathered so far made it clear that the girls were headed to Syria, though the official said investigators were still determining what sort of contacts they had in that country. 

The official said investigators would be trying to figure out whether there were "like-minded" friends and acquaintances in the girls' social circle. Authorities have not said how they think the girls became interested in helping the Islamic State militants. 

The announcement comes one month after 19-year-old Shannon Conley of Arvada, Colorado, pleaded guilty to charges that she conspired to help militants in Syria.  In Conley's case, she told agents she wanted to marry a suitor she met online who said he was a Tunisian man fighting with the Islamic State group in Syria.

Agents, who had been overtly trying to stop Conley, arrested her in April as she boarded a flight she hoped would ultimately get her to Syria. She could face up to five years in federal prison and a 250,000 USD fine when she is sentenced in January.

Ikuti Whatsapp Channel Republika