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Woman held at Heathrow on suspicion of FGM conspiracy

A WOMAN was arrested at Heathrow Airport yesterday for conspiracy to commit female genital mutilation (FGM), Scotland Yard has said.

The British national was held after arriving on a flight from Sierra Leone and taken to a west London police station where she remains in custody.

A 13-year-old Sierra-Leonean girl travelling with the woman was taken into the care of social services.

The Metropolitan Police, Border Force and National Crime Agency (NCA) officers yesterday concluded a week-long initiative at Heathrow aimed at preventing and detecting FGM.

Police spent the week questioning passengers on flights to and from countries where FGM is practiced.

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe said ministers would “have to consider” compulsory medical exams to root out FGM.

An estimated 66,000 women in Britain have undergone the practice, which is classed as torture by the United Nations.

But the first prosecution in Britain began only this year, compared to more than 100 prosecutions in France.

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