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The friends and family of a Londoner who vanished in Paris last month are pleading with French authorities to step up their search as the hunt for him enters its third week.

Tech consultant Isteaque Ahmed, 27, went missing after leaving a nightclub in the French capital in the early hours of Saturday, March 21. The alarm was raised by his best friend Chi Tse after he failed to arrive back in the UK.

"He was supposed to come to London to see me," Mr Tse told the Standard, speaking from Paris where he and Mr Ahmed's family have travelled to put pressure on the continental police. "He never turned up.

"I became worried because I sent him some e-mails thinking if he'd lost his phone he would have his laptop. If was only when I heard no reply I was like: 'I need to do something.'

"The following Monday I called his workplace to find out if he'd turned up at work. It was then the alarm was raised."

But since then, he says, precious little progress has been made.

"Time is of the essence when it comes to a person's life," he said. "Someone somewhere needs to take responsibility for this.

"The address he was last at is next to a river, and that's what our worst fears could be.

"But there's a lot more that needs to be explored."

It is understood the authorities have yet to search the river, and Mr Ahmed's phone records have not been recovered, even though these could hold the key to tracking him down.

Mr Tse also fears vital CCTV footage - which in the UK is routinely destroyed after four weeks - could be lost if the police do not step up their search.

Describing his missing friend as "the nicest guy in the world", Mr Tse said Mr Ahmed "would do anything for you".

"You only have to speak to any of his friends and they would pay testament to that," he added.

Mr Ahmed's family were told the police had searched his Paris flat and found his passport and travel documents laid out as if he had been about to leave for London.

"But the police aren't treating it as suspicious," said Mr Tse. "It's crazy because they could see he had made plans to come to London."

Mr Ahmed, who grew up in Hainault, east London, had been working in Paris for a year.

"Last Thursday we spoke to one of his colleagues," Mr Tse said. "The police have interviewed them [the people who were last with Mr Ahmed] but it seems like it was a telephone interview.

"Everything we've seen from them has been by e-mail - it would be nice if they could make the effort [to speak to us in person]. Even if there's a language barrier, we could find an interpreter.

"We feel so little has been done."

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office confirmed they had been informed about a British national missing in Paris, and added it was providing consular assistance to the family.

If you have information about Isteaque Ahmed's disappearance, shortly after he left the Concrete Club in Paris, his friends and family ask that you e-mail findisteaque@gmail.com.