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Aysha and Luca Opdam
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Aysha and Luca Opdam (Photos: Politie)
Tuesday, 17 March 2015 - 07:46
ISIS mother tricked everyone: Maastricht mayor
The mother who kidnapped her children and took them to Syria managed to sneak a way despite the fact that her family, the police and the kids' school knew that she was planning on going, NOS reports.
"She had everyone fooled." said Maastricht Mayor Onno Hoes. "We suspected that she was going, but we did not know when."
The woman's ex-husband (Aysha and Luca's father) previously informed the police that he suspected that the mother wanted to go to Syria. But there were too few concrete indications that she really was planning to leave. Last year the woman printed plane tickets for a trip to Greece at her kids' school. The school also notified the police.
A few days later the woman and two of her children - Aysha (7) and Luca (8) - disappeared. A short time later the woman posted on Facebook that she has arrived in Raqqa, the capital of the ISIS proclaimed caliphate. She managed to travel all the way with two kids despite an international arrest warrant hanging above her head.
According to the Public Prosecutor, nothing more could have been done to stop her. "We can not just take away passports. A ticket to Greece is not sufficient, many people go there on vacation."