Ilias before his disappearance: “I’m going on vacation for a while” (Mortsel)

After four days of missing, Ilias has now been found. His uncle Benyamine EM is being brought before the investigating judge today. The two were found in Steenkerke, a tiny village of barely 300 inhabitants in the Walloon region of Hainaut.

Last Thursday, Ilias had left for school, but he never got there. It was filmed in Wilrijk, in front of the Q8 gas station on the Groenenborgerlaan. Now it becomes clear why he cycled there: he was on his way to the Shurgard branch on Boomsesteenweg in Aartselaar. This is a company that rents out storage options to private individuals. He had arranged to meet his uncle at 9 am.

That uncle, with whom Ilias had a very good relationship and with whom he had already gone camping in nature before, had stored all his equipment there: a new bicycle that he had bought for himself and two bicycle trailers, one for him and one for Ilias. From there they cycled via the A12 towards Wallonia. They spent the first night in a tent in a meadow in Ternat. The second night they also slept in a tent, that time in a forest. The final destination was a forest in France.

Escape

Ilias had previously announced that he was “going on vacation”. The uncle had turned off his cell phone and taken out his SIM card so that he could not be found. He wanted to disappear into nature for a while, among other things to escape the economic crisis. The man would not have thought about the fuss this could have caused.

When the uncle in Steenkerke turned on his phone again, their signal could be picked up. A police helicopter then saw them cycling and the two were intercepted. Ergun Top, Benyamine EM’s lawyer: “My client was unwise, but had no bad intentions. There is therefore no kidnapping in the popular sense of the word. He had agreed with his nephew to spend some time in nature. My client has a clean criminal record. “

It is now up to the investigating judge to decide whether the man should remain in prison for the time being.

(vdaa, dvd)

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