◼ Kalli Atteya, from Pennsylvania, put on the traditional Muslim clothing as a disguise so she could wait until 12-year-old Niko got off the school bus in the city of Alexandria. She then grabbed his arm and moved him towards a waiting motorized cart with the words: ‘Get in.’
The boy recognized his mother by her blue eyes which peered out of a slit in the burka and without saying a word did as he was told.
The pair were taken to a safe house where they waited three weeks before returning to the U.S. as they were so paranoid the boys’ father Mohamed Atteya, who is wanted by the American authorities, would find them.
The daring rescue brought an end to Niko’s 20-month ordeal during which time his father ‘forced me to live as a Muslim, which I did not want to do,' he said.
It also cost his mother some $100,000 and countless hours, false leads and false hopes.
