Brazilian authorities have accused a helicopter pilot who works for Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone of being behind the kidnapping of the businessman’s mother-in-law, state media report.
Jorge Eurico Faria provided helicopter services to the family in Sao Paulo and was aware of the routine of Ecclestone’s mother-in-law, Aparecida Schunck Flosi Palmeira, according to state-owned Agencia Brasil.
The 67-year-old woman was freed Sunday after being abducted more than a week earlier. She was being held in a house in Cotia, a city about 22 miles west of Sao Paulo, the Sao Paulo state public safety office said.
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.
“One of the two that were arrested first confessed that he was the mentor of the group, but police already had indications since the beginning of the investigation that he could be involved,” Barbosa Filho said.
The pilot, who had previously been president of the Brazilian Association of Helicopter Pilots, is the third person arrested in connection with the case. He has not had any relationship with the association since he stepped down in March 2015, the group said in a statement.
Images on Rede Globo TV showed the freed woman arriving at a Sao Paulo police station flanked by police and the media.
“I ask that bandits stop kidnapping people in Sao Paulo because they will be arrested,” she said.
Ecclestone, the billionaire head of F1 racing, has been involved in motor sports for more than 50 years.
He told CNN in 2012 that he plans to run F1 until he dies.
The kidnapping came just as the Olympic Games are set to start Friday in Rio de Janeiro.
Concerns about crime — as well as the Zika virus, political corruption, economic woes and a doping scandal — have many worried about whether Brazil is ready to host the Games.
