Saudi family reunited with kidnapped son after 20 years

A family in Saudi Arabia has been reunited with the son who was kidnapped from hospital soon after his birth 20 years ago, after DNA tests enabled Moussa Al-Khanizi to find his biological parents.

His father Ali Al-Khanizi told Saudi news outlet Al-Ekhbariya that he never once gave up looking for his son since the day of his abduction when he was just three hours old.

فيديو | عائلة الخنيزي تترقب عودة ابنها موسى بعد ثبوت نسبه عبر تحليل DNA#الإخبارية pic.twitter.com/D2hE19biLQ

— قناة الإخبارية (@alekhbariyatv) February 18, 2020

After reviewing security camera footage at the hospital in the eastern city of Dammam, it was revealed that the kidnapper disguised herself as a nurse and entered the room where Moussa’s mother was resting. The “nurse” sedated the new mother before taking the baby.

For the next 20 years, Ali Al-Khanazi offered a large reward for information leading to the return of his son. Meanwhile, the kidnapper raised Moussa and another boy without any identity documents, allegedly home-schooling them in order to remain undetected.

She was discovered, however, when applying for national identity forms for the two boys, claiming that she had found them abandoned as orphans 20 years ago. Her explanation was suspicious, say the Saudi security services, who looked at old reports about the kidnapping of new-born children from a hospital in Dammam between 8 September 1996 and 22 July 1999.

Following the DNA test of Moussa Al-Khanizi and his reunion with his biological family, the kidnapper has been arrested. Investigations are ongoing.

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