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The kidnappers of Bernie ­Ecclestone’s mother-in-law have issued a string of threats since they snatched her off the street near her home .

They ordered Aparecida Schunck’s family to hand over a £28million in sterling – to be placed in four separate plastic bags.

Police confirmed the 67-year-old mum of Formula One boss Ecclestone ’s wife Fabiana Flosi is being held ransom but have issued a local media blackout to try to prevent her from coming to any harm.

Aparecida was snatched near her home in the middle-class Sao Paulo district of Interlagos, which is near the José Carlos Pace Formula One circuit, on Friday night. She has not been heard from since.

The ransom, 120 million reais, is Brazil’s biggest ever demand. The gang behind the abduction is in contact with Ecclestone and his mum-in-law’s family, who have refused to speak publicly as they try to negotiate her release.

(Image: Getty)

The 67-year-old is believed to have been snatched near to her home in the middle class district of Interlagos, where the country’s José Carlos Pace Formula 1 circuit is situated.

Ms Flosi is said to be extremely close to her mum.

In a Facebook post on Mother’s Day, she wrote: “Happy Mother’s Day to all mothers, and especially mine. There are no words to thank so much love and dedication. Thank you Mum, I love you.”

The abduction comes only four years after the F1 boss, who is the 16th richest man in Britain, advised his family to “beef up” their security following a threat to his daughter Tamara .

The 32-year-old was led to believe she was the subject of a kidnap attempt in 2012 when £200,000 was demanded by a man posing as a security expert who said he could foil a Middle Eastern plot to kidnap the heiress.

(Image: Newcastle Chronicle)

Ecclestone took the threat seriously asking for a face-to-face meeting to hand over the money but the blackmailer insisted on a “drop and pick-up”.

Police eventually caught Martin Peckham, of Colchester, Essex, who later told them he carried out the threat as he needed the money to fund his own wedding.

He was jailed in November 2012 for five years at Southwark Crown Court for blackmail.

Ms Ecclestone had appeared in the television show Billion Dollar Girl.

Following the sentence she said in a statement she was left “traumatised” and became “paranoid” and “scared to go out”.

Afterwards Mr Ecclestone said: “At the time it sounded very serious but I was pleased to know it was actually an amateur trying to extract money.”

(Image: WENN)

With under two weeks now to go until Brazil hosts the opening of the games in Rio de Janeiro , the kidnapping is the latest blow to the Olympics amid grave security fears.

The country is beset with problems that have already marred the 16 day event.

There are increasing fears wealthy visitors will avoid travelling to Rio for the games despite a crackdown by police, including the formation of a special anti-kidnap division.

Crime levels remain high in the country, and earlier this month police in Rio expressed their displeasure with the state government over alleged back-pay issues by erecting a sign near the Rio airport that read, “Welcome to hell.”

“Police and firefighters don’t get paid, whoever comes to Rio de Janeiro will not be safe,” the sign continued.

The country is also in the midst of its worst economic crisis in almost a century.

(Image: WENN)

Kidnapping was common in Brazil a decade ago, with São Paulo seeing an abduction every 27 hours in 2002, but declined after a police crack down.

They are usually carried out by organised crime groups based in favelas - the urban slums which have become a symbol of the country’s struggle with poverty and social inequality.

The most common form of kidnapping is known as “express kidnapping” - in which the victim is frog-marched at gunpoint to a nearby ATM and ordered to withdraw large sums of cash.

Kidnappings reached a peak in 2002, with 321 cases reported in São Paulo alone.

In Rio, a New Zealand athlete reported being “express kidnapped” by police officers at the weekend and forced to withdraw money from a cash machine as a bribe.

Jason Lee, a Brazilian jiu jitsu fighter who has lived in Rio for almost a year and was returning from a competition when he was stopped by police, said: “I was threatened with arrest if I did not get in their private car and accompany them to two ATMs to withdraw a large sum of money for a bribe.

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“I’m not sure what’s more depressing, the fact this stuff is happening to foreigners so close to the Olympic Games or the fact that Brazilians have to live in a society that enables this absolute b******* on a daily basis.”

Two officers have since been arrested.

It came as 12 men were detained by federal police over allegations they were part of an “amateur” terror cell that sympathised with the Islamic State and a Franco-Algerian visiting physics professor at Rio’s federal university was deported after his work visa extension was refused.

Although abductions are reported to have fell in Brazil, the nation is still reported to be in the top five countries in the world for kidnappings, with 1,000 across the country in 2012.

More than 40,000 troops have been deployed to Rio and the five other football host cities – including São Paulo - to guarantee security during the Games.

(Image: Getty)

Father-of-three Ecclestone, 85, is one of sport’s most powerful men who as chief executive of the Formula One Group controls and manages commercial rights to the motor racing brand.

He is estimated to be worth £2.4bn.

He married Ms Flosi in 2012, three years after meeting the now 38-year-old at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

He divorced his former wife of 25 years, Croatian model Slavica Radic, to be with her.

The couple live in England but Ms Schunck, a housewife married a retired civil servant, has remained in her native Brazil.

Mr Ecclestone and his family have refused to comment.