A missing Indonesian husband who sparked an intense police search confessed to faking his own abduction – to get away from problems at home.

Yana Supriatna, 40, was reported missing on November 16 after he sent a voice message to his wife saying he had gotten involved with a ‘bad person’ in the Cadas Pangeran area of Sumedang Regency, West Java Province.

The distraught wife panicked and called authorities to save her husband, who she believed was in serious trouble.

Footage shows dozens of volunteers, officers and soldiers searching for the missing husband after they went to the scene and found Yana’s motorbike, helmet, and jacket left near the edge of the gorge. They brought along two sniffer dogs to help track him down, to no avail.

News of Yana’s mysterious disappearance soon gripped locals, especially superstitious ones who believed the Cadas Pangeran area – full of cliffs and ravines – was a haunted site.

Desperate for leads, Yana’s family even consulted a shaman who said he had been dragged away by the ‘oray koneng’ or yellow snake demon to drown at the bottom of the gorge.

This proved false, however, as the missing man was found two days later on November 18 – safe and sound in a mosque in neighbouring Majalengka Regency.

Sumedang Police Public Relations Head AKP Dedi Juhana said: ‘The rumour that Yana went to his mistress is a hoax. He was found by officers around the mosque in the Dawuan Majalengka area. Because he has no relatives there, he chose to sleep in the mosque instead.’

He added that investigations are now ongoing, and that the suspected motive for running away was personal problems at work and at home.

Dedi said: ‘The results of the initial investigation show that the motive for the perpetrator is suspected to be due to work and family problems. We are still investigating the exact motive.

‘We know he had family problems at home, which was one of the reasons, so we will get the exact reason from him.’