Urgent appeals have been made for information about Imran Ameen, 39, his wife, Farzana Ameen, 40, and their five children, aged between five and 15.
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Plain clothes police today visited the father of Imran Ameen, who lives in the house next door to the family home, a well-kept three-bedroom, semi-detached house. Mr Siddique said that her brother was “heartbroken” at what had happened.
West Yorkshire Police said relatives reported the family missing yesterday eight days after they were last seen and believe they are heading towards a warzone after booking a one-way flight to Antalya from Manchester Airport.
He added: “We are unaware if the missing family have joined their brother”.
Arshid Siddique, a relative who lives on the same street, described Mr Ameen as a quiet and nice guy and said the close knit street had been left in shock.
“She has spoken to him”, he said.
A mother feared to have taken her five children, one as young as five, to Syria told a relative she was doing the “best for her kids”.
He said: “We know very little about the family this is the first time the family has come to the notice of West Yorkshire Police”.
“She never talked about it at all”.
A few weeks ago, Farzana took her mother – who is believed to suffer from Alzheimers and was cared for by her daughter – to Pakistan, telling friends she would get her mother settled. Why would anyone want to leave? I never thought it was anything to do with what she has now done.
“There is my sister up the road who Farzana is close with, my aunty down the road, she didn’t say bye to anybody”.
Khadija Dawood, 30, her sisters Sugra, 34, and Zohra, 33, and their children, aged between three and 15, went missing after travelling to Turkey via Saudi Arabia on pilgrimage.
Police and security services believe that at least 700 potential extremists have travelled from the United Kingdom to Syria, and around half are thought to have returned home.
Detectives are considering whether the family has travelled to Syria or Iraq as part of their probe.
The Met police assistant commissioner Mark Rowley, Britain’s most senior counter-terrorism officer, has said suspects are being arrested at a rate of more than one a day.
Lines of enquiry are now being progressed with the Turkish authorities, a primary concern is the safety and welfare of the young children and the safe return of the young family.
Imran Hussein, the MP for Bradford East, said he had made representations to officials in the Home Office and Foreign Office to try to track down his constituents.
However, according to Mr Siddique, when the police got involved, Farzana’s brother in Pakistan had rung her and she had told him: “I’m doing the best for the kids”.
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Asked if his organisation had done enough, following the disappearance of the Dawood family, he said: “I think over the years and months we have worked with our membership through mosques and through our faith schools and through other community relations to basically emphasise to individuals and families that Syria not a safe place for anyone to travel”. Our key concern is for the safety of the children.
