One of Bernie Ecclestone's helicopter pilots was behind a plot to kidnap his mother-in-law in Brazil, police say.

Aparecida Schunck, mother of the Formula One chief's wife Fabiana Flosi, was taken from her home in Sao Paulo on 22 July, with her captors demanding 120 million reais (£27.8m) in ransom.

Police found her tied up but unharmed in a house on the city's outskirts on Sunday.

Image: Aparecida Schunck is reunited with one of her daughters after being freed

No ransom money was paid, according to police, who said a special anti-kidnap squad had rescued her on the outskirts of the city.

Three men have been arrested in connection with the kidnapping, including pilot Jorge Eurico da Silva Faria.


He was the president of the Brazilian Association of Helicopter Pilots between April 2014 and March last year, when he asked to leave the post for personal reasons.

A spokesman for the association said they received the news of his arrest "with surprise".

Image: Aparecida Schunck leaves a police station in Sao Paulo

The 67-year-old is the mother of Ms Flosi, 38, whom Ecclestone married in 2012 - three years after meeting her at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

Their marriage followed Ecclestone's divorce from his then wife of 25 years, Croatian model Slavica Radic.

Image: Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone and his wife Fabiana Flosi

As recently as a decade ago, several people would be seized each day in kidnappings in Brazil, often for sums of just a few hundred dollars.

A crackdown by police and the creation of the special anti-kidnap division has significantly reduced the number of kidnappings in the country.