RIO DE JANEIRO – A lottery winner and his brother were rescued Tuesday from kidnappers, police in the Brazilian state of Sao Paulo said.The brothers were found unharmed inside a residence in Guarulhos, a suburb of Sao Paulo city.
Police identified the abductors as Saulo Moraes de Araujo, a 25-year-old vendor with previous arrests for robbery and homicide; and Felipe Torres, 23.
The pair grabbed the brothers on Monday from their home in Guarulhos and demanded 500,000 reais ($217,390) for their release.
One of the siblings, a construction worker, won Brazil’s Mega Sena lottery in September, netting 7.8 million reais ($3.4 million).
De Araujo and Torres were part of a gang that specializes in what are known as express kidnappings, which involves grabbing a person and forcing him or her to fork over cash before releasing the captive after a few hours.
Police were already tapping the gang members’ phones as part of an ongoing investigation and agents were able to track down the kidnapped brothers within hours of their abduction.
The captors opened fire when they saw police closing in and De Araujo was killed in the ensuing gunfight.
Officers took Torres into custody and confiscated two handguns and a kilo of cocaine.
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