Labour Leader Ed Miliband faced huge embarrassment as it was revealed that one of the nine Britons arrested in Turkey for trying to cross the border to war torn Syria is the son of a Labour councillor from Rochdale.

Councillor Shakil Ahmed said he was “shocked, worried and extremely upset” to find out his 22-year-old son, Waheed Ahmed, was being held by Turkish authorities, the Daily Telegraph reports.

The nine members of the group, who were all from the same family, will now be deported back to the UK where counter-terrorism police wait to question them.

Included in the gang were four children aged one, three, eight and 11, who are likely to be taken into the care of social services and the local authority.

They, along with the five adults – four in their 20s and one aged 47 – are understood to be related and living in Rochdale. They were all arrested at a paramilitary outpost in Reyhanli, a Turkish town near the border of Syria which is held by rebels, rather than IS terrorists.

In a statement, the Rochdale councillor said his son was a “good Muslim” whose “loyalties belong to Britain”. “I don’t understand what he’s doing there,” he said. “If I thought for a second that he was in danger of being radicalised I would have reported him to the authorities.” “He’s studying a degree in politics and sociology at Manchester University and has a good future ahead of him.”