A TEENAGE bride-to-be fled from an airport terminal after discovering a plot to fly her to Pakistan for an arranged marriage.

Naheeda Begum, 19, of Brownlow Street, Clitheroe, believed she was travelling to Islamabad to marry her long-term boyfriend.

But as she passed through customs at Manchester Airport she was alerted to the fact she would be marrying a stranger.

She fled from her family minutes before she was due to board a British Airways flight, which departed at 7.30pm on Sunday.

Naheeda's boyfriend Nadeem Haji, of Earl Street, Blackburn, had contacted local police after discovering what was happening.

Officers in Blackburn faxed a message and a photograph to colleagues at Manchester Airport, who managed to tell Naheeda that her boyfriend was still in East Lancashire.

Police witnessed an angry exchange between the bride-to-be and her father, who made her remove £4,000-worth of jewellery which was part of her dowry.

Naheeda's family boarded the flight to Pakistan without her and she was later collected from Manchester Airport police station by her boyfriend.

The couple are now in hiding with friends. A female member of Nadeem's family said: "They are staying out of the way until the whole thing blows over. But I don't think he will be coming back here."

Naheeda's mother and sister were at the family home in Clitheroe but would only say she was in hiding and was determined to marry her boyfriend.

A Greater Manchester Police spokesman said: "We received a fax from Blackburn police requesting the airport police to approach a 19-year-old woman, who they understood was due to fly to Islamabad against her will.

"When she was located and spoken to by officers she intimated that she didn't wish to leave the country.

"She was taken to the police station where she met her boyfriend and then left. No further action is being taken as this is a family matter."

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