Aparecida Schunck, the mother-in-law of Formula 1 CEO Bernie Ecclestone, was rescued unharmed after being kidnapped in Brazil.
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Jorge Eurico da Silva Fari worked as a helicopter pilot for a company used by the family of Ecclestone’s wife, Fabiana Flosi, police said.
She spoke briefly to television cameras as she arrived at a police station after being freed, before hugging waiting relatives.
In the meantime, the kidnappers were in contact with the Ecclestone family.
Ecclestone himself has reasons to be happy as well since despite a 120 million reais (approximately $36,5 million) ransom was requested, no money was actually paid.
Two men were arrested as part of the raid.
“Two men were detained at the place where she was held captive in the city of Cotia” in the greater Sao Paulo area, it said.
Jorge Eurico da Silva Faria, who until past year was president of the Brazilian Association of Helicopter Pilots and who was in charge of Formula One Brazil’s helicopter operations until 2014, was arrested in an apartment in a wealthy area of Sao Paulo, close to where Aparecida Schunck, was found.
But no ransom was paid, according to the governor and police sources.
After she was released, Schunck told the media – “I only ask for these bandits to be jailed so they can’t abduct anyone else in Sao Paulo”.
The F1 chief married Flosi in 2012 three years after the pair met at the Brazilian Grand Prix and the couple now live together in the UK.
The couple married in Switzerland and now live in London.
The pilot, who does not have a criminal record, is the third suspect arrested in connection with Schunck’s kidnapping. But Brazilian police told him that his presence in Brazil might be counterproductive and advised him and his wife to remain in the UK.
There were reports that she was freed after payment of a ransom of up to $200,000, although the footballer’s lawyers never confirmed this.
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She had been held for more than a week.
