Missing Belgian Boy Found: Uncle Faces Prison for Kidnapping 11-Year-Old Ilias

Leaving his parents’ house to go to Mortsel around 8:10 a.m. on a blue-gray mountain bike with a beige seat, on September 17, Ilias Chahdi was reported missing. The disappearance was immediately considered alarming and a search message followed the same day, writes Het Nieuwsblad. Child Focus, the police and the public prosecutor’s office had then issued a search notice the day of his disappearance to find him.

After questioning the members of the teenager’s family, the investigators suspected Benyamine E.M. of kidnapping. He is the "favorite uncle" of little Ilias. Subsequently, these suspicions proved to be well-founded. The police issued a public call to the uncle, asking him to contact them "as a witness". The investigators then quickly managed to locate the suspect’s cell phone, in the village of Steenkerke, in the province of Hainaut. They then arrested him on Rue d’Enghien, in the company of his nephew. He was about to head to France with the child.

Placed in pre-trial detention, he was released. He was under electronic surveillance until the end of December. According to his lawyers Ergun Top and Stephanie Verbiest, Benyamine E.M. never had bad intentions. The public prosecutor’s office does not seem to believe this claim and has requested four years in prison, including two years suspended, against the uncle of little Ilias.