Stefan Aristidou landed at Larnaca airport, on the south-east coast of Cyprus, on 5 April 2015. Seven days later he went missing.

Back in the UK, his family heard nothing from him for two years, despite issuing desperate appeals through missing persons charities and on social media.

This week the British national resurfaced in the Turkish town of Kilis, three miles from the Syrian border and around 43 miles from Aleppo.

Aristidou is understood to have told Turkish authorities that he had travelled to Syria not to fight with any group but to “settle” – in Raqqa, the de facto capital of Islamic State.

He was picked up with a British woman of Bangladeshi origin identified as his wife. An American man was also detained.

A spokeswoman for the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) said: “We are in contact with the Turkish authorities following the detention of a British man on the Turkey/Syria border.”

Around 850 so-called foreign fighters have travelled from the UK to Syria and Iraq to fight with Islamic State or other jihadi groups such as al-Nusra Front, and in some cases to join the civil war against the regime of the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad. It is believed around half of these fighters have returned to the UK and around 200 have died.

Aristidou, who is of Greek heritage, grew up in the Gordon Hill area of Enfield where he lived with his mother and sister. The family have lived in the semi-detached house for more than 20 years.

Neighbours told the Guardian that shortly before going missing Aristidou changed his style of clothing, adopting Islamic dress and started attending a mosque.

One person who asked not to be named said: “I had a feeling he had gone somewhere like that. He suddenly started wearing Islamic clothing shortly before he went missing. We would see him leave on his own. Before then he dressed in western clothes, jeans, you know.”

The family declined to comment when contacted by the Guardian.

Shortly after he went missing, the family worked with the Lucie Blackman Trust, a charity set up to help relatives of missing or murdered people overseas, to launch an appeal for Stefan’s whereabouts.

The organisation, founded by the family of Lucie Blackman, who was murdered in Japan in 2000, described him as around 5ft 4in tall and of slim build, and said he had not been heard from since 12 April 2015.

After it learned of Aristidou’s arrest, the appeal was taken down.

A spokesman for the charity said: “The Lucie Blackman Trust supports families with a loved one missing overseas. This appeal was launched some time ago in good faith but given the nature of the reports the appeal has been closed.”