Omar Bin Omran: 45yo Algerian kidnapped as 17yo rescued from neighbour’s cellar just 100m from family home

He vanished without a trace and his family presumed he had been kidnapped and killed. But nearly 30 years later he has turned up alive and well — just 100 metres from his home.

Omar Bin Omran was rescued from the house of his longtime captor after he went missing on his way to school when he was aged just 17 in the 1990s, according to media reports.

The case in Algeria has made headlines worldwide, with Mr Omran now 45 and sporting a beard.

His family assumed he had been kidnapped and murdered in the North African nation’s civil war in the 1990s and early 2000s.

Remarkably, the truth was much closer to home as authorities — acting on a tip-off — stormed a property just 100m from his family home.

They found Mr Omran at his neighbour’s house under a secret trapdoor which homed a sheep pen. Underneath stacks of hay was Mr Omran.

His accused captor, a 61-year-old man who lived alone, tried to flee but was arrested.

According to the El Khabar newspaper, the tip-off happened after an inheritance dispute broke out between the 61-year-old man and the victim’s brother, who is accused of playing a part in the kidnapping.

Authorities then stormed the neighbour’s house, where they found Mr Omran.

Tragically, his mother died in 2013 without ever knowing the truth of what happened to him.

A relative posted on Facebook: “Thank god my cousin was found. Bin Imran Omar is in good health ... Awaiting details of the case and investigations.”

Mr Omran’s alleged abductor has also been accused of killing his dog — seen in photos with him the year he went missing.

Reports suggest the dog hung around the suspect’s home for at least a month after he disappeared.

Shortly after, the dog’s body was left in front of Omar’s family’s home. It was believed to have been poisoned.