A man who was believed to have been kidnapped as a child more than 25 years ago has reportedly been found alive in an underground lair on a neighbor's property.
Omar bin Omran was discovered in the hay-covered hole about 200 yards from his family home in Algeria in what the attorney general's office called a "heinous crime."
Omran disappeared at the age of 17 and his family thought he had been killed during a years-long civil war in the African nation, the Telegraph reported.
A video shared on social media showed security forces rescuing Omran. The video showed him cowering in a hole that had been hidden by a trap door and covered by hay.
🔴🇩🇿: حادثة مرعبة حالياً ترند وهي الاكثر تداول بالجزائر لشاب اسمه "بن عمران عمر" فقد عام 1996 وحصلوه امس!!!
— MOATH | معاذ (@M0ATH) May 14, 2024
بدات القصة في عام 1996 كان عمره 16 سنة، ووقتها فقد وبحث عنه اهله والحكومه بلا جدوى، وحتى أن والدته توفيت حسرة وحزن عليه والكل وقتها كان يتصور أنه قتل
لكن الضحية كان مخطوف… pic.twitter.com/XljvqITJ5P
Now 45, he had a long beard and looked dazed.
Prosecutors say his neighbor, only identified as BA is a 61-year-old who has been taken into custody, the Daily Mail reported.
Investigators were reportedly tipped off about the kidnapping after the suspect's brother suggested his sibling was involved in a social media post while the pair were fighting over an inheritance.
Omran told his family that he occasionally saw them from a window on the home where he was held hostage but couldn't call out to them because he was "under a spell," according to local media accounts of his rescue.
Omran's mother died in 2013, always thinking her son was still alive.
"Please, do not stop searching for Omar. I am sure he is still alive," she said in her last moments, local media reported.
