Formula One billionaire Bernie Ecclestone’s mother-in-law, who was kidnapped in Brazil’s biggest ransom case last month, has been released from her kidnappers.
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Jorge Eurico da Silva Faria, who until a year ago 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.
Elisabete Sato of Sao Paulo police said the ransom, thought to have been the largest in Brazilian history, had not been paid.
Veja, a Brazilian weekly, reported that the kidnappers were demanding a ransom in pounds sterling worth 120 million reais ($36.6 million).
“I just ask for those criminals to be arrested so they do not kidnap anyone else in Sao Paulo”, Aparecida Schunck, 67, told reporters.
A police officer escorts Victor Oliveira Amorim (left), who was arrested for suspected involvement in Aparecida Schunk’s kidnapping on Sunday.
But police told him that his presence in Brazil might be counterproductive and advised him and his wife to remain in the UK.
Images shown on CNN affiliate TV Globo show Schunck arriving at a police station in Sao Paulo flanked by the police and amongst a media scrum. Authorities say they will be deploying 85,000 troops and soldiers during the competition, which starts on 5 August.
Police gave no further details on the operation or the kidnapping. According to Schunck’s neighbors, the kidnappers pretended to be delivery men to get past security. Palmeira was rescued by the Brazilian police on the day, after being kidnapped for 9 days, official sources said.
The incident unfortunately falls on the eve of the 2016 Rio Olympics, when thousands of the biggest sporting faces in the world will make their way to Brazil for the summer showcase.
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The “mastermind” behind the kidnapping “did not show surprise” when he was arrested Monday, Magino Alves Barbosa Filho, the Sao Paulo secretary of public safety, said in a statement.
