Anti-FGM campaign at UK airports seeks to stop mutilation of girls | Society | theguardian.com.

“Police and UK border officials have been runnning a campaign at airports nationwide to intercept families who could have taken their children abroad for female genital mutilation.

The campaign, designed to raise awareness and promote a zero-tolerance approach to the crime, has been in operation over the last seven days at various airports, including Heathrow.

Police and border officials have stopped families suspected of possibly going abroad for FGM to be performed on young girls, as well as families returning to the UK after cutting of a child’s body might have taken place.

Keith Niven, detective chief superintendent at the Met’s command dealing with sexual offences, exploitation and child abuse, said: “FGM is illegal and constitutes child abuse. Many communities are familiar with the practice but not of its health risks, the fact that it is illegal within the UK, or that there is no religious basis to it…”