B.C. woman says dad abducted 4 kids overseas

WATCH:  A well-known Comox doctor is wanted on a Canada-wide warrant, facing charges of abducting his children. John Daly has details of this developing story.

COMOX VALLEY – International police are searching for four Vancouver Island children allegedly abducted by their father overseas.

Alison Azer says in an online fundraising campaign that her ex-husband, Dr. Saren Azer, is a Kurdish Canadian who took their kids to the Middle East.

Azer says the physician left Canada with the children earlier this month and has not returned as expected.

International policing agency INTERPOL lists the children, between the ages of three and 11, as missing on its website.

Their father — also known as Salahaddin Mahmudi-Azer — is a well-known internist from the Comox Valley.

Alison Azer’s fundraising page says she needs money to bring her children home.

RCMP say the children were legally allowed to leave Canada with Saren, but that their failure to return has resulted in a Canada Wide Warrant for his arrest. They are also working with INTERPOL in their investigation.

“We understand how difficult this situation is for the children’s mother and others in the community,” said Vancouver Island Cpl. Darren Lagan in a statement.

“The safety and security of Canadian children, both at home and abroad, is of the utmost importance to the RCMP, and we will continue our efforts to locate and safely return these children to British Columbia.”