Radicalized Uncle Arrested in Kidnapping of 12-Year-Old Belgian Boy

Leaving his parents’ home in Vredebaan to go to Mortsel around 8:10 am on a blue-gray mountain bike with a beige seat last Thursday, Ilias was reported missing. A disappearance that worried his family. Especially since the teenager had never run away before. "Ilias has never tried to leave, and it’s just not his style," commented his aunt Myriam. Child Focus, the police and the public prosecutor’s office had issued a missing person alert the day he disappeared to find him.

The police immediately suspected the teenager’s uncle. There are strong ties between Benjamine E.M. and his nephew. In addition, the 26-year-old man is a radicalized individual cited in at least one terrorism case, according to Het Laatste Nieuws. The police decide to visit him at his home in Berchem on Friday. "He is currently in France," reacted Ilias’s parents. They had in the meantime contacted the uncle after the teenager’s disappearance. Benjamine E.M. had told them that he had not seen him, and that he would be in France.

The investigators do not believe this story. They call the suspect asking him to lend a hand in the search. Especially since he is the child’s favorite uncle. "He is his favorite uncle, and we hope he can tell us more about Ilias and the places he liked to go." Benjamine falls into the police trap. He turns on his cell phone. The investigators manage to locate him in less than a minute. He was in a village in Hainaut. Not in France.

A federal police helicopter flies over the village. The suspect was arrested on Rue d’Enghien, in the company of Ilias. The investigators conclude that it was an attempted kidnapping. The uncle had the intention of going to France with his nephew. During his hearing, the suspect rejects the accusations. Yet, evidence confounds him. He risks five years in prison.