The mother of Pittsburgh Pirates catcher Elias Diaz has been rescued three days after she was kidnapped in Venezuela.

Ana Soto, the 72-year-old mother of Diaz, was rescued early on Sunday and five police officers have since been arrested over her kidnapping.

The 27-year-old MLB player's mother was kidnapped by armed men on Thursday morning in San Francisco - a city about 430 miles west of Caracas - as she chatted with neighbors outside her home.

Zulia state Governor Omar Prieto revealed on Twitter on Sunday that Soto had been rescued by judicial police, state police and other security officers.

Ana Soto, the 72-year-old mother of Pittsburgh Pirates catcher Elias Diaz, was rescued on Sunday in Venezuela and five police officers have since been arrested over her kidnapping

Zulia state Governor Omar Prieto (right) revealed on Twitter on Sunday that Soto (center) had been rescued by authorities earlier that day

Prieto said in a second tweet that he has ordered state police to investigate a police anti-drug team for alleged involvement in the kidnapping.

The five arrested officers work for state police, according to regional newspaper La Nacion.

One is a neighbor of the family and provided his colleagues with 'all the information' they needed to carry out the crime.

It said the group was detained Saturday by the national police agency CICPC.

'It really hurts when they go after your family,' Diaz said in remarks published Friday by the newspaper Panorama.

'I only ask that they not harm her and return her to me alive.'

Diaz is in Venezuela visiting his family, but was not with his mother when the kidnappers drove up in a van and forced her inside.

Diaz is in Venezuela visiting his family, but was not with his mother when the kidnappers drove up in a van and forced her inside

The 27-year-old MLB player's mother was kidnapped by armed men on Thursday morning in the city of San Francisco in Venezuela

Diaz is seen in the Pirates dugout during a game last August. The team has confirmed the kidnapping and pledged to support Diaz however they can in the crisis

Four heavily armed men were spotted jumping out of a black van in front of Soto's home.

The men threatened a young woman with a Glock pistol and demanded to be taken to Soto, witnesses told police.

The kidnappers then bundled Soto up in sheets and threw her in the vehicle before speeding off.

The Pirates issued a statement soon after confirming Venezuelan media reports that Soto was in danger.

'We are all shocked and deeply concerned for Elias' mother, as well as for Elias and his entire family,' team president Frank Coonelly said in a statement at the time.

'We have Elias' mom and Elias' entire family in our prayers. We are using all of the resources available at the Pirates and Major League Baseball to support Elias and his family during this incredibly difficult time.

'As we work with authorities on his mom's safe return, we will withhold further comment and ask that you please respect the family's need for privacy.'

Major league teams in the United States have urged Venezuelan players to be careful when visiting their country, which is in the throes of an acute economic crisis.

Their big salaries make them targets for crime, and Venezuela is extremely violent, with a homicide rate 14 times the global average, according to the Venezuelan Violence Observatory.

In 2011, the Venezuelan sports world was shocked by the kidnapping of MLB catcher Wilson Ramos, then with the Washington Nationals and now playing for the Tampa Bay Rays. The kidnappers were caught and sentenced to 20 years in prison.

In 2009, then-Colorado Rockies catcher Yorvit Torrealba waited in anguish as his 11-year-old son was rescued from kidnappers.

Venezuela has continued to spiral into chaos as an economic crisis grips the nation under the socialist regime of Nicholas Maduro (pictured on Wednesday)

People take part in a protest against desperate medical shortages in Caracas, Venezuela on Thursday. The placard reads 'Rights, now'

Former Washington Nationals catcher Wilson Ramos was kidnapped in 2011 but later was found alive and unharmed after an air rescue.

Venezuela has continued to spiral into chaos as an economic crisis grips the nation under the socialist regime of Nicholas Maduro, the successor to Hugo Chavez.

On Thursday, Colombia and Brazil clamped down on border controls with Venezuela as a mounting influx of hundreds of thousands of desperate migrants flee desperate food and medicine shortages.

The moves to tighten border security could threaten a key social safety valve for desperate Venezuelans as hyperinflation and a severe recession grip their oil-rich country.

The steps also signaled a mounting regional frustration with Venezuela's unpopular President Maduro, who will seek re-election on April 22 amid conditions that the US and other countries say are stacked against a divided opposition.

Maduro is expected to win reelection despite a recession that is now in its fifth year.

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said in a Thursday visit to the border with Venezuela: 'I want to repeat to President Maduro - this is the result of your policies, it is not the fault of Colombians and it's the result of your refusal to receive humanitarian aid which has been offered in every way, not just from Colombia but from the international community.'