The parents of three runaway schoolgirls feared to have joined the Islamic State in Syria have labelled British police 'hopeless ' as they launch their own bid to bring their children home . School friends Shamima Begum , 15 , Kadiza Sultana , 16 , and Amira Abase , 15 , left east London for Turkey last month before crossing into an ISIS-controlled area of Syria . Speaking from Turkey as they try to trace their children independently , the girls ' parents claim they begged police to take their computers to check for any clues which may lead them to their whereabouts , but that officers only did so 'after many requests ' . Scroll down for video . Schoolgirls Kadiza Sultana , 16 , Shamima Begum , 15 , and Amira Abase , 15 , ( pictured at Gatwick airport ) fled to Turkey before crossing the border into Syria where they are believed to have become ISIS jihadi brides . The parents of the three runaway schoolgirls have labelled British police 'hopeless ' as they launch their own bid to bring their children home . The Bethnal Green Academy pupils are feared to have reached the conflict zone to become so-called 'jihadi brides ' with ISIS . Parents and siblings of the teenage girls have now hit out at a series of alleged failures by the Metropolitan Police . Tasnime Akunjee , the families ' lawyer , who has travelled with them to Istanbul , said that all contact with the British authorities and the academy had been 'an attempt to block them from finding out more about the circumstances surrounding the girls ' disappearance ' . Amira 's mother Fetia Hussen , told The Times the people of Turkey have been very helpful . She said : 'We begged the police to take computers to check if there is anything on there useful to help find our daughters . 'The police only took these things after we asked them many times . We do not trust the police will do anything with this . ' Scotland Yard said it would not comment on a live investigation . It comes days after a mother fled to Syria with her two young children to join the terrorist group . Rehana Begum Islam abandoned her husband of 14 years , vanishing overnight with her eight-year-old son and three-year-old daughter . The 33-year-old travelled from Heathrow to Istanbul on February 14 and then took an internal flight to Gaziantep , a city on Turkey 's border with Syria . She is believed to have been helped by Syrian Mohammed al-Rashed , who was arrested last week on suspicion of getting the three east London schoolgirls across the border . On the journey to find the missing girls , their families went first to the Istanbul coach station where the teenagers waited 18 hours in the biting February chill for their bus to the Syrian border . There they spoke to a man who unknowingly let the girls in . He told ITV News they were 'smiling as they arrived ' and 'smiling as they left ' . Emotional : The families went to the Istanbul coach station where the teenagers boarded their bus to Syria . Questions : The families hope to find clues that may help them find or even contact their daughters . Anguish : The families of three missing London schoolgirls have travelled to Turkey to retrace their steps . Renu Begum , sister of Shamima , told ITV News : 'This is our next step basically to get the message out to them that we 've followed them all the way out here . We want them to know that we love them . ' Halima Khanom , sister of Kadiza , said : ' I do n't really recognise my sister , the video and the CCTV that we saw . Because this is just not her and we just want to understand her , you know , to find some answers and get some help . ' Abase Hussein , father of Amira , said : ' I do n't know how to explain . I ca n't describe my feelings . I feel like my girl is next to me when I find someone that 's on their last journey who saw them . I feel like my daughter is next to me - that 's the feelings I have . ' The east London schoolgirls flew to Istanbul from Gatwick with Turkish Airlines and now believed to be in based in the Syrian town of Raqqa – the Islamic State 's self-declared capital . Last week it emerged that Sharmeena Begum , 15 , a close friend of the trio and a fellow pupil at Bethnal Green Academy , left Britain before them in December . There are suspicions the trio kept in touch with Sharmeena who passed on information about how to follow in her footsteps . Those closest to all four girls suspect they were groomed by Islamists using social networking sites and secretive internet messaging software . The families have criticised police and others for failing to stop them . But their plight has raised questions about why the families themselves did not spot their conversion to radical Islam . Scotland Yard chief Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe has said the three schoolgirls would not face prosecution if they returned home .
Shamima Begum , 15 , Kadiza Sultana , 16 , and Amira Abase , 15 , in Turkey . Left east London for Syria then went into ISIS-controlled part of Turkey . Feared to have gone to conflict zone to become 'jihadi brides ' with ISIS . Families have retracted their steps to find clues or even contact with girls . They say they begged police to take their computers to look for clues . But officers only took the machines 'after being asked many times '