Missing 12-Year-Old Ilias Chahdi Found Safe; Uncle Arrested in Antwerp Kidnapping Case

"Ilias has been found in good health," confirmed Lieselotte Claessens of the Antwerp public prosecutor’s office. The public prosecutor’s office has not, for the time being, provided more information on where the police found little Ilias.

Since last Thursday, the boy’s parents had not heard from him. That day, Ilias had gone to Mortsel around 8:10 a.m. on a blue-gray mountain bike with a beige saddle. Child Focus, the police and the public prosecutor’s office had issued a search notice to find him. The police later say they contacted an uncle of the teenager. He was arrested and will be brought before the investigating judge, reports Het Laatste Nieuws. He is said to have kidnapped his nephew with threats and violence.

The Soignies-Haute-Senne police zone confirmed that the child was found on Sunday morning with his bike in Hainaut, in the small village of Steenkerque (municipality of Braine-le-Comte) without giving more details.