MORE than 200 people have now joined a Facebook group to help find missing Newport teenager, Nida Naseer.

The group was set up to raise the profile of the missing teen, had 229 members as the Argus went to press last night. It is named “Find Missing Nida Ul-Naseer” – her surname was originally thought to be Ul-Naseer but the family has since confirmed her name as Nida Naseer.

Miss Naseer, an 18-year-old Coleg Gwent student, has not been since she took bin bags outside her Linton Street home in Pill on December 28.

Police have described Miss Naseer’s disappearance at around 8pm that day as “a complete mystery”, as there have been no confirmed sightings of her since, and said they had grave concerns as she is without her anaemia medication.

Last week, Miss Naseer’s family members, including 22-year-old sister Shamyla and father Naseer Tahir, appeared on national television in an emotional appeal for their sister and daughter to come home.

The family, who are Ahmadiyya Muslim asylum-seekers from Pakistan, described a heated discussion with Miss Naseer on the day she disappeared, when she became upset that her asylum status prevented her from going on to university, something she wanted to do.

A year ago the family’s application for asylum was refused and they are in the process of appealing.

Described by her sister Shamyla as “a very religious, shy and quite person”, Miss Naseer is studying for a business diploma at Coleg Gwent’s City of Newport campus after previously completing her A-levels, and hopes to become a finance or marketing manager.

When she vanished she left behind her shoes, mobile phone and anaemia medication.

Naveed Mughal, youth leader at the Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Association, which is based in Newport, helped to translate posters appealing for information about Miss Naseer into Urdu, for distribution to Newport’s Asian community, which includes an estimated 100 Ahmadiyya Muslims.

Since New Year’s Day the search, which has predominantly followed the contours of the River Usk through Newport, has taken in Rodney Parade, industrial estates in Lliswerry and around Corporation Road, and Pill Millennium Centre, but so far no trace of Miss Naseer has been seen or found.