This Man Was Found Living In The Underground After Being Reported Kidnapped For More Than 25 Years

Illustration of kidnapping. (Unsplash/Jose P. Ortiz)

JAKARTA - An Algerian man who had been missing for more than 25 years who was reportedly kidnapped and detained in the basement, was found just a few hundred meters from his family's home.

Omar bin Omran, now 45, from El Guedid City in Djelfa Province, northern Algeria, is missing while traveling to a nearby training center, local media reported.

A video on social media showed when security forces found him last Sunday. In the footage, bin Omran, which has a long beard, looks chilled as he is assisted to get out of the basement, which is hidden under a pile of straw. He can't speak.

"The Attorney General's Office, Djellfa, informed the public that on May 12 at 8 p.m. local time, victim Omar bin Omran, 45, was found in the basement of his neighbor, BA, 61 years old," the prosecutor said, launching The National News May 16.

Officials said he was hospitalized at the local hospital and only his close relatives were allowed to visit him.

The owner of the house where bin Omran was found has been arrested. "The perpetrator of this heinous crime" will be severely punished, officials said.

The suspect is known to live alone and works as a civil servant. His neighbor described him as a "controversy man" who was always alone. He was also accused of killing bin Omran's dog.

"This is truly a tragedy and we are grateful to God because we were able to find our son," one of the uncle bin Omran, Karim Rgueb, told local media El Djazair N1.

Bin Omran's whereabouts were reported on social media by the kidnapped's sister, amid a dispute within the family over inheritance.

"He spent 28 years regardless of the sun and he's been through a lot," Rgueb said.

A neighbor told news outlet the return of bin Omran was "a miracle". "We thought he was dead, we had no hope."

Meanwhile, speaking to The National via voicemail, one of bin Omran's cousins, Khaled Rgueb, said his family had lost hope after searching for him in the country for years.

"The brother and his mother have been looking for him for years with the hope that they will find him," he said.

"Finally they gave up and stopped looking for it," he continued.

"He can talk to me and recognize me, the situation is not critical or bad, he is in good condition but he is currently receiving assistance to reintegrate to society and overcome what he is going through," Rgueb said.

Relatives and neighbors said they thought bin Omran had been killed in the conflict between the Algerian government and rebels in the 1990s.

"Omar disappeared in 1998 in a very mysterious state and at a time when Algeria was experiencing a difficult security situation," Rgueb said.

He said his relatives thought Bin Omran had died and was buried somewhere.

Bin Omran said he used to see his family from the basement window, but could not ask for help because he was "under the influence of magic" given by the suspected kidnappers, according to local media.

His mother, who died in 2007, never gave up that her child was still alive and her last wish was for authorities to find her son, they said.