Family of man missing after night out downtown offers cash reward

Family and friends of a Langley man who has not been seen in more than a week gathered in downtown Vancouver Saturday morning to canvass for any information that might provide some clues to where he might be, and what could have happened.

36-year-old Irshaad Ikbal was at a dance party with his girlfriend and some friends when he somehow became separated from the group inside Harbour Event Centre at the Plaza of Nations.

That was around 2:00 a.m. Saturday, April 29, and he hasn’t be seen or heard from since.

Well over 100 volunteers showed up this weekend to put up posters and ask local businesses for security video from around the time Ikbal went missing.

"I'm very impressed and glad that we have a community around us and our great group of family and friends that are here today to aid us and the VPD to produce new leads,” said Shakeel Ikbal, Irshaad’s older brother. "As it sits right now, we have no new information and there is no leads in that direction. He was last seen within this vicinity, and that's why we're starting our search here today."

Organizers divided the city up into several different zones and assigned a different group of volunteers to each one.

As the groups set out to search for information, the anguish of not knowing what happened to Ikbal was clearly evident on the faces of his family and loved ones.

"No sleep. We're devastated as a family and a community. There's no words,” said his sister Sophie Ikbal. “All we want is something...someone...to help us bring him home."

Ikbal is South Asian, 5’8” tall and about 155 pounds with hazel eyes, black hair and a dark beard.

Vancouver police have released some security photos of him from the evening he went missing that show he was wearing a short sleeve button up shirt, blue jeans and white runners.

His family is offering a $20,000 reward for any information that leads to Ikbal’s safe return.

"We miss him and we love him and we just want him back with us,” Shakeel Ikbal said.