Natascha Kampusch was bundled into a white van as she walked to school in Vienna, Austria in March 1988.

The young girl was abducted by Wolfgang Priklopil, 44, and held captive in a cellar under a garage for eight years, where she was beaten, raped and treated like a slave.

Natascha managed to escape by running for her life while her abductor, who liked her to call him "master", was distracted by a phone call in August 2006.

After frantically stopping a couple of people who had no mobile phone and so were unable to help her, Natascha knocked on two doors before someone finally let her in and called police.

Hours after Natascha escaped, Priklopil was found beheaded by an express train after apparently lying down on railway tracks.

In what was described as Stockholm Syndrome at the time, Natascha sobbed after finding out he was dead and begged police to let her visit the mortuary to see him.

Natascha astonishingly threw herself over her captor's body and cried, and has kept a photo of him in her purse ever since.

But now, a decade since Natascha was freed, claims have been made suggesting her kidnapping had links to a high-powered child sex ring.

Priklopil's business partner, Ernst Holzapfel, has come under scrutiny for his alleged part in Natascha's stolen life.

While he denied being anything more than a business partner to the abductor, the two men are said to have been friends who went out drinking together.

Shortly after Natascha escaped, Holzapfel met Priklopil at a shopping centre, where the pair were seen chatting intently on CCTV.

Priklopil had called Holzapfel to say: "I am in the Donauzentrum (shopping centre) by the old post office. Please pick me up. This is an emergency. Please pick me up."

In a police statement Holzapfel admitted driving the "agitated" kidnapper around, but claims he thought police were after him for drink driving.

He says he advised him to hand himself in to police as "he would probably only lose the driving license for a few months".

Holzapfel said: "He promised to do that and got out. I simply could not believe [when he was told about the kidnapping by police] he would be capable of doing something like that."

This turned out to be a lie - as after intense questioning by journalists, Holzapfel admitted Priklopol had told him he had kidnapped and imprisoned Natascha, allegedly shortly before the captor killed himself.

Holzapfel claims he lied as he "feared investigators would wrongly link [him] with the kidnapping".

His alleged involvement in Natascha's capitivity is enhanced by claims he visited the house a number of times while Natascha was being held captive there, which he denies.

He claims he only met Natascha once, when Priklopil brought her to his house and described her as an "acquaintance".

He said: "'She stood with him in the entrance — he introduced her as an acquaintance. I offered her my hand and she said a very polite hello.

"She made a happy, relaxed impression. I didn't, of course, realise that it was Natascha Kampusch. It was only when I was questioned by the police that they showed me a photo and I realised it was her."

The wealthy Austrian claims when Priklopil allegedly told him what he had done, he explained the woman he had met at his house had been kidnapped.

Follow the story here: http://www.todaynewsreview.com/p/240/this-10-year-old-girl-was-kidnapped-and-kept-in-a-basement-f

Those guys are not good in business, i trust my igbo brothers, they would have turn it to money venture

What a world!

Wow for eight years, that's massive