"She told me they were going to get there and somebody is going to contact them," the father of the 16-year-old Sudanese girl tells the AP. "I ask her, 'Who's that person?' She actually didn't have a clear idea about what's going on. They're just like, you know, stupid little girls. They just want to do something, and they do it." The FBI says the 16-year-old and her friends, 15- and 17-year-old sisters of Somali descent, were headed toward Turkey en route to Syria when authorities stopped them on Oct. 20 at the Frankfurt, Germany, airport.The girls were sent back to Denver, where FBI agents again interviewed them before releasing them to their parents without pressing charges.
They're safe now, but the father said he is still troubled by lingering questions about their intentions, who recruited them online, and how they were so easily able to board a plane and head overseas.Officials have said one of the girls had planned the voyage and encouraged the others to come along.
The girls allegedly had saved their money and stole from their parents to buy their tickets in cash at a Lufthansa counter at Denver International Airport. Their overseas trip raised no red flags. The US government doesn't have any restrictions on children flying alone, domestically or internationally.
