A man who disappeared nearly 30 years ago at the age of 17 after an alleged kidnapping has been found alive in his neighbor’s basement under piles of hay.
His name is Omar Bin Omran and is said to have disappeared 27 years ago in the city of Djelfa in Algeria.
His family believed he had been killed during the civil war between the North African country’s government and Islamist rebel groups, which raged for a decade in the 1990s and early 2000s.
The truth literally hit close to home: the missing man was allegedly captured by a 61-year-old neighbor who is now in police custody after Omar, now 45, was found in his basement earlier this week.
Footage was shared on social media and broadcast on Algerian television networks of the moment Omar was found in what appeared to be a well in his alleged kidnapper’s home.
Omar Bin Omran as a teenager before he was kidnapped, pictured with two younger relatives (left) and after he was found (right)
Images of Omar’s discovery have gone viral on social media. The Arabic caption reads: ‘The moment they found him in their neighbor’s house’
It is believed that his family believed him to be dead, killed in the Algerian civil war that raged more than twenty years ago.
The blurry video shows torch lights shining into a pit surrounded by hay, as Omar looks up furtively, seemingly bewildered by the searchers around him, with loose bits of straw in his hair.
Since then, other images have circulated of the bearded man emerging from the hole, and of him as a teenager, sitting with a dog and young children.
Prosecutors in Djelfa, a mountain town of about 500,000 people about 140 miles (230 kilometers) south of the coastal capital Algiers, say Omar will receive psychological care after he is rescued, while vowing to get him justice.
“The Office of the Attorney General of Djelfa informs the public that on May 12 at 8 p.m. local time, it found the victim Omar B, 45 years old, in the business of his neighbor BA, 61 years old,” they said in a statement.
A court official in Djelfa was quoted as saying: ‘Two days ago, on May 12, 2024, the Public Prosecutor’s Office, through the regional branch of the National Gendarmerie in El Jadid, received a complaint against an anonymous person claiming that the complainant’s brother , Omar bin Omran, who has been missing for about thirty years, is in the house of one of his neighbors, in a sheepfold.
‘Following this report, the Attorney General of the Idrisiya court in Djelfa province ordered the National Gendarmerie to open an in-depth investigation and officers went to the house in question.
“The missing person was found and the suspect, the 61-year-old owner of the home, was arrested.”
A statement from the Albanian Ministry of Justice (pictured) promised that Omar would receive psychological care, and promised that the perpetrator would be tried with ‘severity’.
Footage shows what locals believe was the site of Omar’s discovery in Djelfa, Algeria, illuminated by emergency vehicle lights
He added: “The Public Prosecution Service has ordered that the victim receive medical and psychological treatment and the suspect will be immediately presented to the Public Prosecution Service after completion of the investigation.”
Officials have promised that the “perpetrator of this heinous crime” will be tried with “severity.”
The arrested man is believed to work as a civil servant and lived alone.
A neighbor of the kidnapped man told Algerian TV channel Bilad: “His poor mother died while he was in captivity, without knowing what happened to him, without knowing that he had actually been next to her all this time. ‘
A statement from the Algerian Justice Ministry suggested that the victim’s family had been tipped off about Omar’s whereabouts after the alleged kidnapper’s brother aired grievances on social media during an inheritance dispute.
There are many mysteries as to why Omar did not call for help in the nearly thirty years he was held captive.
Algerian media have reported that Omar said he was unable to call for help because of a spell cast on him by his alleged kidnapper.
