Man is arrested following rescue of 12-year-old girl from a cellar where she was 'kept as a sex slave for five years after she and her mother were lured to Mallorca from Africa'

Spain's Civil Guard have arrested a man in Mallorca after rescuing a 12-year old girl who had been reportedly kept as a sex slave since 2019. 

The man, 49,  had allegedly held his stepdaughter hostage for five years and would keep her locked in a cellar hole under his desk. 

According to Spanish news outlet Antena3, the man first traveled to an African country in 2015 posing as a philanthropist, where he met and 'lured' the young girl's mother with the promise of a better life on the Spanish island. 

After some time, the girl's mother is said to have accepted his offer, and the two married and moved to Mallorca, bringing one of her daughters with them.

As reported by TeleMadrid, the man provided the girl's mother with a flat, while he lived separately with the young child, claiming that the set up would make it easier for them to bring over the rest of her daughters from Africa. 

A man, 49, is arrested in Majorca after keeping his stepdaughter locked in a cellar and sexually exploiting her. 

As a result, he was able to take advantage of his stepdaughter and sexually abuse her. 

To keep her quiet, he would threaten to send her and her mother back to Africa, which resulted in the minor obeying for fear of disappointing her family and not being able to give her sisters a better future in Spain, the Civil Guard said. 

But when the girl found out her stepfather was in the process of bringing her sisters to Mallorca, she reported her case to the Hermanas Oblatas, a group of nuns known for their work helping vulnerable women. 

The sisters alerted the Civil Guard, leading to the man's arrest on Friday.

Upon a search of his home, officers discovered evidence of child pornography. 

Spain's civil guard shared a video of a search of the man's home, which led to his arrest. 

Footage shows how the man kept security cameras on his ceiling

Civil Guard footage shows the moment officers discovered a crawl space under a desk, with a ladder leading to a cellar, where it is thought the man hid his stepdaughter. 

A video shared by the Civil Guard shows the inside of the man's home, where they find security cameras on the ceiling, as well as a collection of discs. 

Footage also shows a dark and crammed crawl space hidden under a desk with a ladder leading to a dingy basement, which is suggested to be where the young girl was kept by her stepfather. 

The video ends on the man being escorted into a Civil Guard vehicle.   

This case is eerily reminiscent of Natascha Kampusch's kidnapping in Austria in 1998, who at age 10, was held in a cellar by her abductor Wolfgang Priklopil for more than eight years. 

During her captivity, Kampusch said she was beaten, starved and turned into his sex slave. 

The case resonates with the kidnapping of Natascha Kampusch, who was held in captivity and sexually exploited for eight years after being abducted in Austria in 1998.

 Kampusch finally escaped in 2006 while her kidnapper was distracted and managed to catch the attention of a woman in a nearby house who called the police.

On that day Kampusch recalled in an interview with Germany's Bild newspaper: 'I was told to clean his car.

'He wanted to sell it and had told me to clean it really thoroughly and completely. I remember that I felt like I could eat a horse because I had to make him jam sandwiches for breakfast but got nothing myself.'

Priklopil then took a call on his mobile phone and was momentarily distracted.

'Previously he has observed me all the time. But because of the vacuum cleaner whirring in my hand he had to walk a few steps away to better understand his caller,' Kampusch went on.

She was then able to open the gate and ran to freedom, bringing an end to the ordeal that had begun in March 1998 when Priklopil snatched her as she walked to school.

Priklopil's  decapitated body was found on a rail line in Vienna hours after Kampusch had escaped from his clutches.