Man freed after allegedly being held captive 20 years by family

A family in Brazil is being investigated after police accidentally found a 36-year-old man who went missing two decades ago.

Local officials stumbled upon Armando Bezerra, 36, being held captive inside of a room in Guarulhos during an operation to find suspected drug traffickers.

According to BBC, Bezerra was malnourished and showed signs of unspecified mental health problems.

Police also claimed Bezerra was locked in an “extremely unhygienic circumstance.”

He was transferred to hospital.

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Family members of Bezerra were not home at the time, but a man who claimed to be his father arrived back to the house shortly after his son’s discovery.

The father told officials his son had run away from home and had only returned recently and had asked to be kept in the room because he was a drug user.

“He stayed for a long time with his cousins in the north, but he never returned here from up north because was an adult,” the father told Reuters. “I am his father, but I never heard from him.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "He stayed for a long time with his cousins in the north, but he never returned here from up north because was an adult," the father told Reuters. "I am his father, but I never heard from him."

Tests are underway to determine these allegations against Bezerra.

Neighbours told both BBC and Reuters they had wondered what happened to Bezerra and called him an outgoing student.

“We had wondered up until now, we did not understand how this young man remained captive,” one neighbour told Reuters. “How he was being fed? And was he being fed?”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "We had wondered up until now, we did not understand how this young man remained captive," one neighbour told Reuters. "How he was being fed? And was he being fed?"

Amancio Bezerra has been charged with false imprisonment.

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