Turkey airport police hunt extremists en route to Syria

Turkish authorities give AFP unusual access to its anti-ISIL security teams and risk analysis center at airport Everything seems normal as the passengers stream out of a routine flight from a Middle Eastern country after landing at a major Turkish international airport.

But as they cross the air bridge from the plane into the airport, two plainclothes Turkish police - on the lookout for jihadists on their way to Syria -- scrutinize their appearance and behavior.

They check the passengers' passports and detain two men who arouse suspicions after saying they are travelling on to the city of Adana, in southern Turkey.

The country has long been under pressure to do more to thwart the transit of jihadists across its territory to war-torn Syria. Thousands are believed to have taken commercial flights to Turkish airports before heading overland to Syria to fight alongside Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants.

But Ankara insists it is now doing all it can to tighten border security and said Western states should do more to prevent the jihadists from leaving for Turkey in the first place.

Turkey has clearly been stung by the criticism, and last year it established "risk analysis centers" at international airports and bus terminals across the country in order to spot extremists and deport them.

Eager to show the extent of the measures now in place round the clock at Turkish transport hubs, the Turkish authorities gave AFP unusual access to its security teams at the airport.

The teams have detected some 1,500 suspects and around one third of them were sent back to their countries of origin, a Turkish security official told AFP in an interview.

"The suspect is spotted at the...