A MOTHER and her five children arrested by immigration officials in a dawn raid on their home will be deported today.

Failed asylum-seeker Sarwar Jan and her teenage children, who have lived in Middlesbrough for more than four years, were taken into custody on Thursday after they were arrested in their Borough Road home.

Mrs Jan's son, Waqas, was due to collect his GCSE results that day from Hall Garth School, in Acklam.

The family, from Pakistan, fled to England in 2000 after a family feud left them fearing for their safety.

Mrs Jan and her children -Asis, 18, Magid, 17, Waqas, and 14-year-old twins Anila and Nabila -are being held at a detention camp near Bedford, in Northumberland, and have been told they must return to their homeland today.

Last night, Waqas, who plays for Thornaby Cricket Club, said he and his family were terrified.

He said: "We are scared, frightened. My mum is very upset. We were woken very early and brought here, and have been told we will be sent back to Pakistan. We do not know what to do."

Family friend Tani Khimji said: "They did not even have time to get sacred possessions like their prayer mats when they were taken."

Kath Sainsbury, of the National Coalition for the Anti-Deportment of Refugees, said: "I have seen a newspaper advert, placed by the children's father, saying that if they were seen by him they would be persecuted under Sharia law."

The Home Office declined to comment.