Dubai expat seeks help after 20-year-old son goes missing for 5 days

A mother’s desperate plea for help gained attention on social media Monday evening after her 20-year-old son went missing last Thursday, November 14.

Annabel Hilo Abing, a 40-year-old Filipino expat, said that her son, Mark Lester Abing, had left their home unnoticed, leaving his family in a state of worry.

According to the mum of 4, Mark Lester, who suffers from schizophrenia, used a set of keys he found hanging by his grandmother’s room to sneak out of the house around noon that day. The young man, she explained, is not allowed to leave the house unsupervised, and his mother believes he may have gone outside in search of cigarettes.

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Mark Lester was last seen wearing an all-black shirt and pants when he left the family’s home. Since his disappearance, Annabel has been frantically searching for him. She contacted local hospitals and posted in community groups, but received little attention until she shared her son’s story on her personal Facebook profile Monday night.

“I called the hospitals, but there’s been no sign of him,” Annabel said, adding that she also went to the police station to file a missing persons report the previous day. However, she was told to return today to process the report.

Annabel believes her son may be in the Abu Hail or Hor Al Anz Street area, or possibly nearby. She also noted that this isn’t the first time Mark Lester has gone missing. Just three weeks ago, he disappeared for four days, prompting a search by family members before he was eventually found in the nearby cafeteria.

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