Omar bin Omran was just 17 years old when he vanished from a village in northern Algeria.
His family never wanted to give up hope, however after years of searching, they eventually accepted that he may have been one of the many victims of the Algerian Civil War (1992-2002), which killed between 100,000 and 200,000. However, the truth would turn out to be much more extraordinary than anyone could ever imagine, According to Daily Mial.
On 12 May 2024, bin Omran was discovered to not only be alive but being held just 200m away from his family home.
Watch the clip of the moment bin Omran was discovered below:
Bin Omran was last seen in 1998, with the teenager leaving his family home in the village of El Guedid. He would not be heard from again.
While most of the family eventually accepted the idea that bin Omran had become one of the many casualties of the civil war, his mother had another theory and wondered if a local shepherd, who her son had reportedly grown close to in the months prior, could be involved.
Speaking to The Times, a local resident named Abdel said he would regularly skip school to help the man, who was 16 years older than him.
“The shepherd got attached to him,” he further claimed.
Although bin Omran’s mother would later die in 2013 with no idea what ever happened to her son, her theory would turn out to be right.
In a social media group, an anonymous poster made a post claiming that bin Omran, now 45, was hidden in the cellar of their neighbor’s home.
It’s believed the tip-off was made after an alleged inheritance dispute in their neighbor’s family.
He would later be found in that location while the 61-year-old man was arrested.
“The Djelfa Attorney General’s Office informs the public that on May 12 at 8 pm local time, it found victim Omar B, aged 45, in the case of his neighbor, B.A., aged 61.” a statement from public prosecutors in Djelfa said in May.
Algeria’s Judicial Council also revealed that eight people had been charged with the crime, while six suspects had been detained and two others had been placed under judicial supervision.
The reason why bin Omran had been held captive by his neighbor hasn’t been confirmed officially, however, locals in the village have various theories about why.
One theory, which some relatives of bin Omran believe, is that there was allegedly ‘black magic’ involved, while others alleged that bin Omran had been groomed – however, a representative for an LGBTQ+ rights group, Alouen, has warned of the homophobic backlash linked to this idea.
They told The Times: “It’s always the same narrative, connecting the gay community to any horrible event in the news.
“A murder, an earthquake, this story — anything negative is blamed on our community. The captor’s sexuality, which is unknown, is really not the point of this horrible story.”
As to where his bin Omran is now, his younger cousin reportedly shared a recent photo of him on Instagram, revealing he was ‘adapting to his new life’.
However, he has declined to reveal what happened to him during captivity.
“Even we do not have the information. We talked to him about the issue. But his soul does not allow him to think about it again,” his cousin added.
