Man who was kidnapped aged 19 and discovered 26 YEARS later had only been a few minutes’ walk from his family’s home the whole time but never cried out for help because he was convinced his captor had ‘cast a magic spell on him’
A man who was kidnapped at the age of 19 and found 26 years later in Algeria this weekend was just a few minutes’ walk from his family the entire time.
But the man – named Omar Bin Omran – never called for help because he was convinced his captor had cast a magic spell on him, according to local reports.
Omran disappeared during the decade-long 1998 Algerian civil war, leading his family to believe he had been killed in the conflict between the North African country’s government and several Islamist rebel groups.
The truth was much closer to home: he was now 45 years old and was found on May 12 among haystacks in a stable, just 200 meters away from his family’s home in the town of Djelfa.
The discovery came after the kidnapper’s brother aired grievances on social media, reportedly over an inheritance dispute. According to reports, the post revealed the identity of the victim and his location, prompting Omran’s family to storm the home.
The alleged perpetrator, a 61-year-old doorman who worked in the nearby town of El Guedid, was taken into custody after he tried to flee, the Algerian Justice Ministry said.
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 during the Algerian civil war that raged more than two decades ago. Family members claim the dog was poisoned after it started smelling Omar’s scent up close
The ministry said the investigation was ongoing, adding that the victim received medical and psychological care following the crime, which it described as “heinous.”
Algerian media reported that the victim said he was unable to call for help “because of a spell cast on him by his captor.”
Footage was shared on social media and broadcast on Algerian television networks of the moment he was found in what appeared to be a hole in the ground, described by authorities as a sheepfold, in the home of his alleged kidnapper.
The blurry video shows torch lights shining into a pit surrounded by hay, as Omar looks up furtively, seemingly in shock at 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, believed to be a sheepfold, and of him as a teenager, sitting with a dog and with young children before he disappeared.
Report from the Algerian newspaper El Khabar suggests that the dog pined for him near where he was being held after recognizing his scent. The report alleged that the kidnapper poisoned the dog to ward off the family.
A search for Omar was launched in 1998 after he went missing while on his way to a vocational school.
According to the newspaper, the dispute over the inheritance prompted the family to storm the house in search of Omar. When they found him, his alleged kidnapper attempted to flee before being stopped and subsequently arrested.
Tragically, Omar’s mother died in 2013 without ever knowing the truth about what happened to her son. According to the Algerian newspaper, she had pleaded on television for information about what happened to her son The expression.
Reports indicate that Omar was informed of his mother’s death while in captivity.
A relative said on Facebook: ‘Thank God my cousin has been found.
‘Bin Imran Omar is in good health after 26 years of disappearance. Awaiting case details and investigations.”
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.”
Omar’s discovery, nearly three decades after his alleged kidnapping, could mean he is one of the world’s longest-held prisoners
A statement from the Algerian 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.”
It is believed the man detained worked as a civil servant and lived alone, but Algerian media suggested he regularly bought enough food for two people.
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.
The case may be one of the longest running kidnapping cases in the world. Eleven-year-old Jaycee Dugard was kidnapped in Meyers, California in 1991 and remained missing for more than 18 years after being captured by Phillip and Nancy Garrido.
Dugard was held in appalling conditions and subjected to extreme sexual abuse, fathered two children by Phillip Garrido, and later said she adapted to sympathizing with her captors in order to survive.