The man only identified as Omar B. had vanished at the age of 19 during the Algerian Civil War in 1998, and his family assumed he had been kidnapped or killed.

Now aged 45, he was found amid haystacks only about 200 yards away in the city of Djelfa after the captor's brother aired grievances on social media, reportedly due to an inheritance dispute.

Algerian media reported that when family members began searching the suspect's house, he became tense when they approached a haystack, and they eventually found Omar B. "sitting quietly" underneath.