An Algerian man who has been missing for almost 30 years was recently discovered alive in his neighbor’s basement after being kidnapped at the age of 17.
According to Algerian media reports, 45-year-old Omar Bin Omran was rescued on Sunday from his neighbor’s house in Djelfa, Algeria, over 26 years after he mysteriously disappeared on his way to vocational school. The neighbor’s house was located approximately 300 feet from his family’s home in Algeria.
A video shared by Collin Rugg, co-owner of Trending Politics, shows the 45-year-old kidnapping victim being rescued from his neighbor’s basement, which was located beneath a sheep pen.
The Daily Mail reported that a statement from the Djelfa Attorney General’s Office reportedly identified Omran’s kidnapper as a 61-year-old man listed as “B.A.”
“Two days ago, on 12 May 2024, the Public Prosecutor’s Office received, through the regional department of the National Gendarmerie in El Jadid, a complaint against an anonymous person claiming that the complainant’s brother, Omar bin Omran, who has been missing for about 30 years, is in the house of one of his neighbours, inside a sheepfold,” the Djelfa Attorney General’s Office said in a statement, according to The Daily Mail.
The Daily Mail reported that investigators were notified of the situation by Omran’s family after the suspect’s brother claimed the 61-year-old had been involved in the kidnapping incident in a post on social media.
“Following this report the General Prosecutor of the Court of Idrisiya in the province of Djelfa ordered the National Gendarmerie to open an in-depth investigation and officers went to the house in question,” the statement continued. “The missing person was found and the suspect, the 61-year-old owner of the house was arrested.”
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The attorney general’s office explained that Omran was transported to a local medical center for physical and psychological treatment. The attorney general’s office also noted that the suspect would face a trial for the “heinous crime.”
The Daily Mail reported that the man allegedly responsible for kidnapping Omran is a civil servant who was repeatedly observed buying food for two people despite living by himself.
According to The Daily Mail, Omran’s family believed that he had died during the country’s civil war, which took place in the 1990s and early 200s; however, Omran’s uncle told Algerian media outlets that his mother never gave up searching for her missing son.
While Omran’s mother died in 2013, Algerian media reported that her final wish was, “Please, do not stop searching for Omar. I am sure he is still alive.”
