Police are asking for witnesses to come forward to shed more light on the case of a man who claims to have been kidnapped in France and held by three men in the Netherlands.

The victim, bloodied and a in a panic, rang the doorbell of a house in Aerdt in Gelderland on December 31, imploring the residents to call the police.

‘I was in the shed and my wife was baking oliebollen,’ one of the residents told the Telegraaf. ‘He was scared to death, looking for a safe haven. We gave him shelter and his first ever oliebol.’

When the police arrived the man, who spoke French and some English, told them he had been kidnapped and held in the Netherlands by three men.

It is as yet unclear how he ended up in the Gelderland village of 300 inhabitants. Police have issued a description of the man who they say is 1.90 metres tall, dark-skinned and bearded and was wearing a woolly hat.

Police also welcome tips about unfamiliar vehicles or persons seen around the area and any surveillance camera footage that may be of interest.