Mother of Brazilian soccer player released from kidnapping
The mother of Brazilian player Mario Custodio Nazare "Marinho," player of Corinthians, was released Saturday by her kidnappers who had kept her a hostage since May 3 in Sao Paulo state, said her relatives.

Alice Nazareth, released after ransom was paid, was the fifth mother of a Brazilian professional soccer player to be kidnapped in the past six months in Sao Paulo, the richest and most populated state of Brazil.

The kidnappers, who had taken her by force out of her residence at the coastal city of Santos, released her Saturday in San Vicente neighbourhood, in a neighbouring municipality.

The police said that it was kept out of the negotiations with the kidnappers at the request of the relatives and that it did not intervene in the release of the mother of the full-back of Corinthians.

The five mothers of players are already released.

The first one was the mother of Robinho, kidnapped last November and released 41 days later after the payment of 80,000 dollars.

On January 23 the mother of Edinaldo Batistal Libanio "Grafite," striker of Sao Paulo, was released a day later by the police.

Meanwhile, in March, the mother of Rogerio, of Sporting, of thePortuguese league, was kidnapped for three days.

The mother of Luis Fabiano, striker of Porto, also from Portugal, was kidnapped on March 11 and released on May 12 by the police.

Last Tuesday Marcia Barros, the daughter of Wilson Barros, president of a small club of Sao Paulo state was liberated from her captivity which commenced on April 20.

In addition to these cases the wife of Brazilian coach Jair Picerni, Maria Fernanda da Silva Picerni, was in the hands of two men who broke into her residence for two hours.