Heathrow Airport
A 38-year-old woman has been arrested at Heathrow Airport on suspicion of conspiracy to commit female genital mutilation (FGM). The arrest took place last Thursday around 6:30pm after she arrived in the UK on a flight from Sierra Leone.
The woman, a British national born in Sierra Leone, was travelling with a 13-year-old Sierra-Leonean who has since been taken into the care of social services. The girl was a relative of the arrested woman, but Police refused to disclose how they were related.
The arrests come after a week-long initiative by the Met Police, Border Force and National Crime Agency at British Airports. Also known as Operation Limelight, it is aimed at preventing and detecting FGM.
The day before, officers spoke to 36 people as they alighted from flights from Nigeria and Liberia, via Sierra Leone.
Operation Limelight has seen training about FGM given to staff at Heathrow and intelligence-led checks on passengers, including baggage searches. Passengers from "countries of prevalence", known for having high levels of FGM, have also been targeted with preventative measures such as health passports. Such countries countries include Sierra Leone, Somalia and the Democratic Republic of Congo.