POLICE are planning on widening their search for missing Newport teenager Nida Naseer.

Nida, 18, has not been seen since stepping outside her home in Linton Street, Pill, on December 28, without shoes or mobile phone, at around 8pm.

Officers have previously searched around Corporation Road, the former Lysaghts Institute and around the Transporter Bridge, search areas which had been defined by specialist search experts, according to Supt Mark Warrender.

But a police spokeswomen confirmed that the initial stages of searching of identified locations had been completed.

She said: “We are now identifying further areas to widen the parameters of the search.”

Newport City councillor for Pill, Omar Ali, said: “We are all very concerned and pray for her safe return. As the days go on it becomes more of a worry and we feel for her family.

“It’s important to keep her in the media as it might jog someone’s memory who might have information.”

Nida’s sister, Shamyla, 23, recently told a press conference that she believed Nida’s disappearance stemmed from being upset because she could not attend university because the family were asylum seekers.

Her sister said she had seen friends who did less well in their exams go on to university. She went to college instead but remained unhappy.

Before she left she had argued with her family about her inability to go to university and was “shouting and crying”.

There have been no sightings of the former Duffryn High School pupil, whose family are from Pakistan, since that night.

Mr Ali added: “Even if someone has the smallest piece of information I urge them to come forward as it could help.”

The family appealed this week to their daughter, saying: “Please come back home, Nida, please come back home. We all need you, we can’t live without you.”

Police have described Nida’s disappearance as “a complete mystery”.

Extensive physical searches of the nearby area, house-to-house enquiries and speaking at length to Nida’s family and friends has so far provided no new information. The police are also trawling through hundreds of hours of CCTV footage from across Pill and into the city centre.