Runaway Sharjah pupil reunited with family
A schoolboy has returned home to his family in Sharjah after living with construction workers in Ajman for two weeks.
Mohammed Pervez, 15, returned home in the early hours of Friday. Mohammed left home 15 days earlier after a row with his parents about watching YouTube videos late at night.
The Indian teenager cycled from Sharjah to Ajman, where he stayed in a villa with five labourers after telling them his parents had gone on holiday and left him behind.
“We were happy when he returned because the past 15 days have been extremely difficult for everyone,” his father, Mohammed Aftab Alam, told
The National on Friday. “We were going out of our minds wondering what could have happened to him.”
Mr Alam said his son left the family home and cycled 14 kilometres to Ajman, where he was taken in by construction workers.
“He told them his parents travelled to their home country and he was alone, and had no money,” Mr Alam said.
“He lied to them and they gave him a place to sleep and food, so he was with them the whole time.”
The teenager was spotted by a member of the congregation when he went to mosque on Thursday.
The worshipper recognised him from a missing persons poster.
He contacted the police, who tracked down the boy and confirmed his identity.
Despite being told by police that Mohammed had been found, Mr Alam said he could not believe he was about to be reunited with his son.
“We received a call on Thursday at 11pm to go to Sharjah police headquarters to confirm it was him,” he said.
“We received false alarms before to go to Ibn Battuta Mall and Dubai Marina Mall [where people claimed the boy had been spotted].
“At 2am they confirmed they were giving us back our child.”
Police issued an urgent appeal for information about the teenager after he went mission.
He was found by police in Ajman who said he was walking around aimlessly in a residential area.
Mohammed was taken to a local police station before being reunited with his family.
Mr Alam told local news media the boy’s mother had not slept since his disappearance.
Police officers scoured nearby mosques, schools, public places, hospitals and shopping malls to try to find the boy.