Was kidnap of Bernie Ecclestone’s mother in law an inside job?
Brazil police rescue her after gang demand £39m
A HELICOPTER pilot employed by Bernie Ecclestone has been arrested on suspicion of masterminding the kidnap of the tycoon’s mother-in-law.
Jorge Eurico da Silva Faria was detained after armed police rescued Aparecida Schunck from her captors in Brazil.
Officers from an elite anti- kidnap unit smashed their way into an apartment in the outskirts of Sao Paulo and found the 67-yearold tied up with rope.
They managed to quickly pin the kidnapper guarding her to the floor without having to open fire. Freed after her nine- day ordeal, Mrs Schunck – the mother of Formula 1 billionaire Ecclestone’s third wife Fabiana Flosi – last night enjoyed an emotional reunion with relatives.
The successful rescue meant none of the £39million ransom – the highest ever demanded in Brazil – had to be paid.
Faria, who was president of the Brazilian Association of Helicopter Pilots until May, is accused of passing information relating to Mrs Schunck’s movements and security arrangements to a criminal gang.
The pilot was used by Ecclestone and his wife during their visits to Sao Paulo, which hosts the Brazilian Formula 1 Grand Prix each year.
Ecclestone, who is UK’s fourth richest person with an estimated £3.2billion fortune, had wanted to travel to Brazil to help the investiga-
‘Abductors posed as deliverymen’
tion and had even offered the services of a private security company to deal with the kidnappers. But police told him that his presence in Sao Paulo might be counterproductive and advised him to remain in the UK.
Last night the 85-year-old tycoon said: ‘I’m very happy. The last few days haven’t been very good. This isn’t a good thing to happen to you and your family. The police officers we dealt with were fantastic, they did an unbelievable job. It was absolutely first class. We are very, very, very happy with them.’
Mrs Schunck wept as she hugged relatives and friends in an emotional reunion. She said: ‘I just ask that the crooks do not kidnap anyone else in Sao Paulo because they will be arrested.’ The kidnappers struck on the evening of July 22. They managed to get into the property in the affluent Interlagos district of Sao Paulo by posing as deliverymen, knowing their victim was expecting new furniture.
Overpowering two maids, they dragged Mrs Schunck into her white Ford Fiesta as she cried out for help. The vehicle was then driven off by one of the gang as another followed behind in a white 4x4. At the time the victim’s husband Ailton was away in the north of Brazil.
Neighbour Maria Farinaccio, 66, told the Daily Mail: ‘Aparecida cried out for help but sadly I didn’t hear her. Her maid came out of the house to try to help her but it was too late. At first I thought it was just some trouble in the street and that’s why I didn’t go out myself.’ The
abductors then set up a Yahoo email account and sent a message demanding £28million in sterling, divided into four plastic carrier bags. The sum rose to £39million by the time of her rescue.
During the negotiations, relatives demanded to see ‘proof of life’ and asked kidnappers to lower their price, claiming they could not raise such a sum.
Meanwhile, police traced Mrs Schunck to Cotia, a remote district of San Paulo, through her car number plate. Officers were also closing in by tracking the gang’s messages on the texting service WhatsApp, one report claimed.
Police snatched one of the kidnappers, Davi Vicente Azevedo, near the gang’s safehouse after spotting him hobbling along the street on crutches. He had suffered a motorbike accident last week and had left the hideout to get medical help.
The kidnapper then agreed to co- operate with police and on Sunday evening he led them to where Vitor Oliveira Amorim was holding Mrs Schunck. Both Amorim and Azevedo are known to police as petty criminals only. They told investigators they had been promised £4,600 to carry out the kidnap on behalf of a mastermind.
Police said officers are continuing to look for those who ordered the kidnapping. The property where Mrs Schunck was held is in a poor neighbourhood and is divided into five flats. The owner said his wife had not stopped crying since she found out that Mrs Schunck had been held ‘right under our noses’.
He said one of the suspects arrested on Sunday had started renting the flat three months previously and had told him he worked nightshifts.
He had recently gone to the onebedroom flat to check on the state of the kitchen but had been told by his tenant: ‘Don’t go in there, my girlfriend is in there.’
Ecclestone met Miss Flosi in the run-up to the 2009 Brazilian Grand Prix where she was working as marketing director for Formula 1. They wed at his Swiss chalet in Gstaad in 2012 and live in the UK.
The rescue comes just days before the start of the Rio Olympics – which has already been beset by fears over the Zika virus, street crime and terrorism.