Police hunt London woman feared to be heading for Syria with her four children
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Version 0 of 1. A missing mother and her four children are feared to be travelling from Britain to Syria after they disappeared from their London home last week, Scotland Yard has said. Police are trying to trace Zahera Tariq, 33, and her sons Muhammad, 12, Amaar, 11, Aadid, four, and daughter Safiyyah, nine. They were last seen at their house in Walthamstow, east London, on Tuesday, and were believed to have flown from London City airport to Amsterdam the same day. Police believe all five may be on their way to Syria. Tariq’s husband and the father of her children is thought to be still in the UK, two neighbours said yesterday. One said she spotted him at the house early on Wednesday morning as she was heading to work. “He was fine, I think maybe he was tired because it was early,” said 21-year-old Janick Ndala. Her family’s terrace house shares a wall with the Tariq family home, and she has known them for over a decade. “It’s surreal,” she said. “They just seemed like a normal, happy family.” A relative contacted police on Wednesday to report that the family of five were missing and fears that they could be on their way to the conflict zone, police added. Detectives later found the family had been captured on CCTV at London City airport prior to their flight to the Netherlands. The children are carrying rucksacks and clustered round their mother, who is pushing a trolley loaded with four suitcases. The route to Raqqa, the capital of Islamic State, is through Turkey, but there has been increased scrutiny of passengers heading to Istanbul, prompting some westerners seeking to join the extremist group to take a less direct route to the border. Tariq may therefore have been using the Netherlands as a staging post to deflect potential concerns. Around 700 Britons are estimated to have set out for Isis-controlled parts of Syria and at least 100 are thought to be women and girls, some travelling with friends and others with children. They include three sisters from Bradford, who set off with their nine children in June, and three students from Bethnal Green. In addition, it was reported in July that several members of the same family from Luton, including three children, were believed to have travelled to Syria after a holiday in Bangladesh. Commander Richard Walton, from the Metropolitan police counter-terrorism command, said relatives and officials were worried about the latest group. “We’re concerned about Zahera and her four children, and we’re doing all we can to work with our partners and colleagues both here and abroad to locate them and make sure they are safe and well,” he said. “Whilst we do have some concerns that Zahera may be thinking of travelling to Syria, there is no information to suggest that she’s already travelled there. Her family are extremely worried about her and her three sons and daughter, and we urge anybody with information to contact us as soon as possible.” Related: 'There is no silver bullet': Isis, al-Qaida and the myths of terrorism Police are appealing for any information on the whereabouts of Tariq and her children. She is described as 5ft 3in and of medium build with long, black hair. Neighbours said Zahera was quiet and conservative, always wearing a niqab that covered her face when she went out, though the family were friendly. Her husband would be away for long hours, at one point working in a laundry, while their children used to run in and out of homes on the quiet suburban cul-de-sac where they lived and join games of football in the street, although they did not attend the local school. “They would say ‘hi’ in the morning but didn’t interact much,” said neighbour Luc Nonga, a 25-year-old fine art student whose home shares a wall with the Tariq family. He had not seen the father for around three weeks, he added. Most people on the street were baffled to find that their quiet neighbour may have been nursing such extreme plans for herself and her children. “I am quite shocked; they just seemed like normal people, never any trouble. We get the police round here sometimes but never for them,” said another neighbour, Sylvia. |