London, Oct 14 (IANS) British police have confiscated 250,000 pounds (about 401,713 dollars) of suspected funds for the Islamic State (IS), the anti-terror authorities said Monday.

Most of the money was seized from travellers departing from Manchester Airport to Turkey, who were suspected of supplying cash for militia fighters in Syria and Iraq.

"Terrorists need money to fight. At the Turkish border with Syria there are shops where you can buy guns, boots, rations and if you are going out there to fight you need money and you want equipment," Xinhua quoted Tony Mole, detective chief superintendent of the Greater Manchester Police (GMP), as saying.

"We take that cash away from people, not only stopping them from buying weapons and funding terror organisations which are a threat to the UK and an international threat but we also disrupt that person," added Mole, who is also head of the North West Counter Terrorism Unit (NWCTU).

Some of the confiscated cash was spotted in the travellers' luggage or hidden under their clothes.

The confiscated cash was seized between April 2013 and April this year, while details for the rest of Britain were not available yet.