Tried to find a thread on this..but couldn't so I figured I'd start this one.

I'm surprised this case does not get discussed more on this board..

This is the case of the Middle Eastern man who was being harassed by threatenening phone calls.

I assume there has been no update on this case other than the fact that Bashire is still alive and successful.

I do have some thoughts on this case after watching it.

1. The L'enfant messages were definitely done via splicing and recording techniques. Someone most likely got the kid voice from a movie or a television show. (in fact the voice almost sounds like Gary Coleman's!!!...no I'm serious!! I'm wondering if the splice came from an episode of Different Strokes---NBC aired they show, so maybe they used that for the re-enactment!!:D )

2. I find it hard to believe that they drove to all the locations to make the calls. It sounds more like they used a "scrambler" phone of some sort.

Such techniques sound more like the work of some nations secret service agency. Perhaps some of these people were working in one of the embassies.

Tried to find a thread on this..but couldn't so I figured I'd start this one.

I'm surprised this case does not get discussed more on this board..

This is the case of the Middle Eastern man who was being harassed by threatenening phone calls.

I assume there has been no update on this case other than the fact that Bashire is still alive and successful.

I do have some thoughts on this case after watching it.

1. The L'enfant messages were definitely done via splicing and recording techniques. Someone most likely got the kid voice from a movie or a television show. (in fact the voice almost sounds like Gary Coleman's!!!...no I'm serious!! I'm wondering if the splice came from an episode of Different Strokes---NBC aired they show, so maybe they used that for the re-enactment!!:D )

2. I find it hard to believe that they drove to all the locations to make the calls. It sounds more like they used a "scrambler" phone of some sort.

Such techniques sound more like the work of some nations secret service agency. Perhaps some of these people were working in one of the embassies.


That case always bugged me, too. My question is did the scrambler-type phone exist at that time? It could be, also, that whomever was behind it simply had contacts in all of those cities and had those people make the calls. Since they were recordings, he could've simply sent them to his contacts.

Just my thoughts :)

You said he's successful today, so I hope that means he's out of the hospital and not being harrassed anymore. Hopefully with today's technology the calls could be tracked easier should the harrassers try it again.

You said he's successful today, so I hope that means he's out of the hospital and not being harrassed anymore

From what I've heard

He still runs a chain of sucessful restaurants and there have been no further harassments.


Unless someone knows to the contrary??

Hopefully with today's technology the calls could be tracked easier should the harrassers try it again.

1.Technology works both ways. With disposable cell phones, stolen cell phones, cloning, internet telephoning, phone cards..etc...It actually even easier now for tormentors!!!!

They could make all the calls from a van using 6 stolen cell phones from some some guys in London!!!

2. Considering that Al Quaida has come to prominence..his tormentors have their resources as well to lean on.

You know what, even though I have part of the segment on tape (I stupidly recorded something earlier back on the tape some time later, and it cuts in) and memorized alot of it, I never thought of the kids' voice being a recording, but that makes perfect sense! It did seem weird to me that a 10 year old would have such a vengeance against two men he didn't even know (Bashir as well as his replacement at the restaurant). For that matter, why would they target the new guy's innocent son and beat him for no reason at all, without kidnapping him? That actually was the scariest thing to me in the whole segment.

No question it was a complicated case and I wonder what started it all, but Stack's wrap up at the end sounds plausible to me - that he crossed paths with the wrong person when he was married to his first wife.

BTW, where did anyone hear Bashir was still successful? I'm glad for him the harrassment finally stopped, I guess he eventually got out of the hospital some time after the segment aired.

P.S. On a lighter note, it DID sound like Gary Coleman's voice now that I think about it. ;) "What chu talkin' bout, Bashir?"

I remember this one as well. I looked him up a couple of years ago and as far as I know he is running a successful restaurant and living in the DC area.

http://www.marrakesh.us/

I think that's the place.

isnt this the case where the guy was in the hospital and l'enfant called and he told the nurse and she was like, "oh that's that L'Enfant again", then hung up the phone??? I just remember it being hilarious.

isnt this the case where the guy was in the hospital and l'enfant called and he told the nurse and she was like, "oh that's that L'Enfant again", then hung up the phone??? I just remember it being hilarious.

Yeah, even though it was the reenactment (and probably not the way they actually said it, at least I hope not) I was also going WTF, why would you tell him THAT?

I remember this one as well. I looked him up a couple of years ago and as far as I know he is running a successful restaurant and living in the DC area.

http://www.marrakesh.us/

I think that's the place.

I visited the website, but is Bashire currently running it or is that other guy (forgot his name from the segment) still running it? If Bashire is still in the mental hospital, afraid for his life, I can't imagine him running a restaurant.

^ Yeah, even if he got out of the hospital some years later (which I hope he has) I'd think he'd basically live a low key private life and not chance it. Plus I'm sure living through something like that would normally make him a bit more uneasy about people or going back to what he did before.

I agree I felt bad for the guy who replaced him (Raj I think), especially with his son getting beaten just to "send a message".

The guy who played Raj the new manager was hilarious.

Why do you want to kill me ? with a tiny smile on his face.

Hopefully now things have worked out for Bashire.

The guy who played Raj the new manager was hilarious.

Why do you want to kill me ? with a tiny smile on his face.

Hopefully now things have worked out for Bashire.

actually, it was "Why you want to kill me?" I'm normally not so nit-picky, but it was that exact quote that made me chuckle a little at the broken English.

actually, it was "Why you want to kill me?" I'm normally not so nit-picky, but it was that exact quote that made me chuckle a little at the broken English.

Yeah you're right :lol:

Crazy to me that this case was never solved and no arrests were ever made. I wonder if he is still receiving the phone calls or when the last time he received them was?

Crazy to me that this case was never solved and no arrests were ever made. I wonder if he is still receiving the phone calls or when the last time he received them was?

Search the boards. There was a BIG discussion about L'Enfant just recently. I guess Bashir may not have been the nicest man in the world?

I live in DC, and I've seen his restaurant, I think it's still open.

Anyway, I always thought this case was fishy, it doesn't make sense. His business partner's son was attacked but not Bashir? It could've been a scare tactic, but why not go after Bashir after calling him every single day?

And I don't buy them coming all the way from Lebanon just to prank call him. They would torture him almost to death, but would just prank call him in America? And wouldn't it make sense just to kill him, instead of prank calling him if you thought he was going to leak information on their terrorist acts?

This case has to be fake. If it isn't, then someone who knew about his past was messing with him. Disgruntled ex-employee, ex-wife, someone. But if someone was this mad at him to waste their life prank calling him, then why attack a child, and not Bashir? And how did they know he was in a mental institute?

And if he was harassed so bad , then why would he return to the restaurant business? I figured he'd still be traumatized. This case has to be fake.

I live in DC, and I've seen his restaurant, I think it's still open.

Anyway, I always thought this case was fishy, it doesn't make sense. His business partner's son was attacked but not Bashir? It could've been a scare tactic, but why not go after Bashir after calling him every single day?

And I don't buy them coming all the way from Lebanon just to prank call him. They would torture him almost to death, but would just prank call him in America? And wouldn't it make sense just to kill him, instead of prank calling him if you thought he was going to leak information on their terrorist acts?

This case has to be fake. If it isn't, then someone who knew about his past was messing with him. Disgruntled ex-employee, ex-wife, someone. But if someone was this mad at him to waste their life prank calling him, then why attack a child, and not Bashir? And how did they know he was in a mental institute?

And if he was harassed so bad , then why would he return to the restaurant business? I figured he'd still be traumatized. This case has to be fake.

I tend to agree with you that this case was super fishy. I remember watching it thinking "yea right" the whole time. But, didn't they confirm that the calls actually were made? If they were made then it did happen. Now whether or not he himself was in on it or if there was ever any real malicious intent is another story.

Was it ever confirmed that he was actually kidnapped and tortured?

In the other thread a bunch of stuff about Bashire was revealed. Apparently he is a part of radical groups that promote racism. The calls were theorized to be people against him because of his bigotry

I tend to agree with you that this case was super fishy. I remember watching it thinking "yea right" the whole time. But, didn't they confirm that the calls actually were made? If they were made then it did happen. Now whether or not he himself was in on it or if there was ever any real malicious intent is another story.

Was it ever confirmed that he was actually kidnapped and tortured?

Ahh, you're right, the calls were indeed confirmed. They were traced to pay phones all around D.C., I had forgotten about that. But something still seems fishy. For instance, he was tortured to the point of death, and they just released him to a hospital? For what? so he can rat you out? Doesn't make sense. The kidnapping and torture was never officially confirmed, and it's weird we didn't hear from his ex-wife.


And ShriekoftheVultu, I remember reading his blog, and he definitely seems like a crazed radical. It's highly possible the calls were politically motivated, but his story still doesn't add up. I guess it could've been a local group he had beef with, and they pranked him. Maybe another local radical group who just pranked him until he snapped, don't believe it's the people who tortured him from Lebanon though. I do wonder if he exaggerated his story so UM would air his story. If he just said "they're prank calling me and won't stop" they wouldn't have aired his story.

And if he was in on it, then why? What was his motive? Only thing I can think of was to "promote" his restaurant but eh.

In the other thread a bunch of stuff about Bashire was revealed. Apparently he is a part of radical groups that promote racism. The calls were theorized to be people against him because of his bigotry
https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/47amz0/bashir_kouchaji_and_lenfant/

Funny part I noticed and wondered if anybody else did, too.

Anybody notice when he had to pull over and the car engine was smoking and the "Ease" in which he just calmly picked up the 4 (or 6) spark plug wires (they were laying atop the engine almost) and threw them on the ground?

No spark plug wires come off that easy or are in that kinda location.

That all being said, I would hope 20-25 years later he is not still being harassed by some small gang of prank-callers, especially with today's technology of tracing, etc.

Always liked that segment, and wondered what was behind it. Like others mentioned, I highly doubt a 10 year old kid and some friends were behind all of these calls, being driven around to different phone booths by their dads or uncles. There had to be much more sinister forces and contacts involved.

I think the FBI were able to pinpoint the calls and they were coming from payphones.

What a surprise. This segment is not on Amazon streaming

If Bashire was as radical as people said he was, then it's obvious that it was someone who conflicted with his views. Either he knew who this person/group was, or it's someone who knew of his views. I do think he embellished parts of his story for publicity though. I'm sure he got some calls, but the calling in the mental hospital, as well as beating up his partners son has to be fake.

I'm sure he got some calls, but the rest of his story is probably made up so he could draw attention to his restaurant. Good publicity stunt, you radical scum.

And LOL @ people who thought an actual child was calling.

This one of my favorite cases/segments. Apparently it has been omitted from the Amazon Prime episodes. Anyone have any idea why that is? Is that a common they're doing with streamed versions of episodes?

This case was asked about on the official UM Facebook page and the response was "unfortunately that case is not available in the streaming version of the series."

This one of my favorite cases/segments. Apparently it has been omitted from the Amazon Prime episodes. Anyone have any idea why that is? Is that a common they're doing with streamed versions of episodes?

They lop off about 20 a season.

In this particular case, I wonder if it's because

1. The harassment stopped decades ago.
2. The statute of limitations has expired.
3. Bashir is still around, apparently successful, is easily findable, and they don't want to encourage copycat offenders.

I think the kidnapping incident and the calls may not be related.

I do think the story Kouchacji told on the UM segment about the kidnapping and the theory behind it is probably exactly spot-on: it was the PLO, and they mistakenly thought he was CIA for a number of reasons--including his being married to a U.S. citizen.

I think the calls may have been perpetrated by someone who had knowledge of the kidnapping, but wasn't involved in it or affiliated with the PLO or other related groups. The motive isn't clear to me, although given Kouchacji's views as well as his success as a restauranteur, retaliation or even jealousy could be possible explanations.