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civil servant in Batam, Riau Islands, has gone missing along with his wife and three daughters and preliminary indications suggest that the family left for Syria to join the Islamic State (IS) radical movement.

Batam Free Trade Zone Authority'€™s (BPK FTZ) One Roof Integrated Service (PTSP) director, identified only as DDW, disappeared along with his family after leaving for Mecca to perform umrah (minor haj pilgrimage) in late August.

The family'€™s whereabouts remain unknown.

Friends and neighbors, meanwhile, reported that DDW had apparently sold his house and car prior to leaving for Mecca.

BPK FTZ head Mustofa Widjaja recently told The Jakarta Post that according to his office'€™s employment division, DDW had submitted a request for long-term leave prior to leaving for Mecca. DDW did not return to work after the leave period expired.

'€œOur employment division has sent him a letter [regarding the absence],'€ Mustofa said.

Separately, National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT) head Comr. Gen. Saud Usman Nasution confirmed that his agency was currently investigating DDW'€™s disappearance.

Saud also said that his agency had identified one policeman and seven civil servants who had fled to Syria to join IS. Saud, however, declined to reveal whether DDW was one of them.

'€œWe are still investigating the report. We must care for the security in Batam so that the same thing does not happen again,'€ he said on the sidelines of a seminar in Batam.

DDW worked for almost 20 years at the BPK FTZ. He started his carreer as a staffer at the institution'€™s public relations division. He was eventually promoted to director of the public relations division and the PTSP. He was recently reassigned to handle the PTSP exclusively.

DDW attended work for a week after the Idul Fitri holidays in July. He then petitioned for long-term leave until Sept. 2 to perform umrah with his wife and their three daughters.

Separately, Riau Police'€™s intelligence and security director Sr. Comr. Dwi Suryo Cahyono said that he had yet to hear any information regarding the disappearance of DDW and his family.

'€œI have not yet received any information about it. No missing persons report has been filed by their families,'€ he said.

The issue of radicalization and the metastasizing influence of militant groups has increasingly attracted attention and consternation in Indonesia, especially in light of the more than 500 Indonesians reported to have joined the IS movement in Iraq and Syria.

In March, the National Police'€™s Densus 88 counterterrorism squad arrested five people accused of facilitating the travel of 16 Indonesians detained by Turkish authorities for trying to cross the country'€™s border to join IS in Syria.

Meanwhile last week, the police managed to foil an attempt by eight residents of South Sulawesi to leave Indonesia for Syria to allegedly join the IS movement.

The group of eight, which comprised six adults, one child and one infant, attempted to sail to Syria from Aceh on board a wooden boat when they were caught by Sabang Police officers.

The eight people were identified as Sultan Loteng, his wife Darwani Daeng Jine and their three children Nur Hayyun Thohura Aroani Sultan Daeng, Muhammad Nur Islah Mulathofah Al Azizi and Muhammad Nir Qoyyum Qawiyya, along with Abu Nur Al Assoif, Muhammad Zainal Rosyid and Rudi. They were later transported by air on Monday to the their hometown in Gowa regency.