FEARS are growing for the safety of a British mum and her four-year-old daughter after they went missing in Egypt.
Jawaria Tbesom, 26, is believed to have flown to Cairo with little Aamina Asum on September 12 after disappearing from their home in Stechford, Birmingham.
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West Midlands Police are helping with the search but relatives, who traced the pair to the capital Cairo, fear Jawaria and Aamina could be sleeping rough.
Jawaria’s estranged husband Asum Rehman, 32, said she had custody of their daughter since they had been living apart.
Pharmacist Asum, who works in Redditch, Worcestershire, said: “No-one knew she’d been planning the trip and it was only once she was there that she messaged her mother to say she was in Egypt because she wanted to ‘sort a few things out’.
“By looking at her emails we knew when she was due to fly back, which was a few days later, and when she didn’t come back we reported her missing to West Midlands Police.
“We rang the hotel where she was meant to be staying and they said she hadn’t checked in.”
Asum, along with six other family members have flown out to Egypt and are combing the city in a desperate bid to find them.
He said they had flown out to search themselves after they had become frustrated with the “lack of help”.
Asum said: “West Midlands Police told me that, because we know where she is, she isn’t missing.
“But my wife is vulnerable and has a four-year-old girl with her, they’re both British nationals and no-one knows where they are – Cairo is a city with a population of nine million people.
‘LACK OF HELP’
“We had to go to the High Court to get an order forcing police refer the case to Interpol.”
Mr Rehman is in Cairo, along with Ms Tbesom’s father, Yasin Tbesom, and several nephews.
Mr Rehman said: “As soon as we landed, we contacted the British Embassy who said it wasn’t their job to search for missing people that was the job of the local police.
“So we went to the Cairo police who, quite frankly, have been useless.
“There’s the language barrier and also they don’t seem to know what they’re doing – they’re the ones ringing us up asking if we’ve got any leads or information.
“We’ve taken it upon ourselves to enlist the help of local people, put up posters and put out videos in the hope someone may have seen them.”
Mr Rehman said their hard work had paid off and, after to talking to local taxi drivers, street vendors and hoteliers, they had established the mother-and-daughter were still in Cairo.
Mr Rehman said: “We had a sighting of her from a hotel’s CCTV that showed Jawaria and Aamina wearing filthy clothes.
“Aamina wasn’t wearing any shoes, and they looked extremely dirty and in a terrible state.
“They keep moving from one part of Cairo to another, begging for scraps of food because they don’t have money.
“It’s boiling hot here – 35C every day – and some of the places they’ve been spotted are extremely dangerous .
“We are getting closer every day and yesterday missed her by just 24 hours, so we know she’s definitely in Cairo.
“Everyone’s worried sick because they only have the clothes they’re standing in, no money and we’re very concerned for their health.”
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A spokeswoman for the West Midlands Police said: “Because they are believed to be abroad, we have referred the matter to Interpol and the British Embassy in Cairo.
“We’ve also advised them to contact the Lucie Blackman Trust, which specialises in missing people abroad.”
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