Police today are offering a £20,000 reward for information regarding three young children who were abducted from Croydon by their father.
Bilal Safi (six years old), Mohammed Ebrar Safi (five), and Mohammed Yaseen Safi (three) haven’t been seen since 6pm on 20 August in Coulsdon, when Imran Safi took them.
Police are after information regarding a man spotted in the passenger seat of a red Nissan Qashqai, registration PK13 WFO, believed to be used in the abduction.
The car was driving down Marlpit Road, Coulsdon towards Coulsdon Central just after the abduction and the man is described as bearded, and was believed to be wearing a stripy jumper.
Police are urging anyone with dashcam footage from the area on 20 August to check it and asking anyone with information to contact them urgently.
Commander Bas Javid said: “I can’t imagine how distressing this whole situation has been for the three young boys, who have been taken away from their safe environment.
“Our efforts to locate Imran Safi continue and we are now offering a £20,000 reward for any information that will help us to bring the children home safely.
“The investigative team has been working tirelessly on this case and we are appealing again because someone reading or seeing this knows the whereabouts of these innocent children and I need them to contact us urgently and provide that knowledge.
“We need the public’s help to identify the passenger in the red Nissan as he may hold valuable information as to where the children and Imran Safi are. We appreciate that the image is not the clearest quality but we still need people to really study it and see if the man in the picture is one that they may recognise.
“We believe Safi and the children have left the UK, but we will continue to do everything we can to locate the children and arrest Safi. Our working theory is that they have left via a clandestine route, but we are unsure as to where, and that is why we need people across the country, and abroad to share this appeal for information.
“The focus of this operation is returning these innocent children to the UK. That is our top priority. We hope that offering this reward will lead to some significant information being passed to us.”
Whilst Safi remains at large, 16 other people have already been arrested relating to the investigation.
You can access all the police information and images here.
Anyone with any information on the whereabouts of Imran Safi or the three children is urged to call the incident room on 07942599374 – this number is operational 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Alternatively, to stay completely anonymous, contact the charity Crimestoppers on freephone 0800 555 111 or fill in their simple and secure anonymous online form.
Any member of the public who may see Imran Safi should avoid approaching him but call police immediately on 999.
