Mystery surrounds the disappearance of a Brazilian man after he was found in Spain on Tuesday despite last being in contact with his wife from Switzerland.
Márcio Rodrigues, 44, arrived in the northern Swiss city of Zurich on November 8 to ostensibly finalize a deal with investors before abruptly stopping communications with his wife.
A copy of a police report reviewed by Brazilian news channel G1 indicates that Swiss law enforcement officers had been in contact with their Spanish counterparts.
His brother-in-law Carlos Cerá told DailyMail.com on Thursday that Interpol had ordered the family not to reveal details about the investigation, but he did say Rodrigues fears for his life.
“My brother-in-law’s life is still in danger,” Cera said. “We were ordered not to pass on any new information to Interpol, so as not to hinder the investigation.”
Cera would not say which city Rodrigues was in, but did say he is in good health.
“He is doing much better, as far as possible because he has been in captivity for 13 days, but he is still outside Brazil, but we cannot say where because of his physical integrity,” he said.
Brazilian businessman Márcio Rodrigues was found in Spain on Tuesday, 13 days after he mysteriously disappeared in Switzerland, authorities in the Swiss city of Zurich confirmed. His wife, Ana Cera, had previously said he would travel to Spain after his meeting in Zurich
Rodrigues reportedly traveled to Switzerland to seal the final details of a deal he made online for therapeutic products he was selling.
The Brazilian businessman boarded a flight in São Paulo at 6:00 PM Brazilian time on November 7 and landed in Barcelona at 8:25 AM on November 8.
He waited 1 hour and 25 minutes for his connecting flight and left at 9:50 am. His flight arrived in Zurich at 11:40 am.
While at Zurich airport, Rodrigues communicated with his wife, Ana Cera, sending her the first of several messages at 5:45 a.m. Brazilian time.
Eleven minutes passed before he contacted her again and told her he was worried he wouldn’t be able to speak English, the language of his business partners.
However, his wife told G1 that he would contact a Spanish-speaking person who could serve as a translator.
According to his wife, Márcio Rodrigues was flying from Switzerland to Spain for another business meeting. Cera’s brother, Carlos, told DailyMail.com via text message that Rodrigues is doing well but fears for his life
Before he went missing, Brazilian Márcio Rodrigues sent a photo of passengers waiting at the arrivals hall after getting off the plane in Zurich, Switzerland
One of the last photos Márcio Rodrigues sent his wife was of the plane parked at the arrivals hall of Zurich airport
Between 8:11 a.m. and 8:32 a.m., Rodrigues sent his wife a photo of the plane in the background, another of fellow passengers waiting to disembark at the arrival gate and a video of the terminal.
Five hours passed before Rodrigues contacted his wife again and told her that he was in a taxi on the way to the hotel to try to get his passport back, which had allegedly been taken from him by a group of people who went to meet the businessman . .
“Pray for me, because I think I’ve fallen into a trap. My God, in half an hour I know what’s going to happen to me,” Rodrigues told his wife at 1:32 p.m.
‘They said they would bring me my passport in fifteen minutes, half an hour. But I’ve been waiting here for almost four hours.
“I met them and they took a picture of my face,” he said. “(They) brought a machine to take my fingerprints and took my passport (to scan).”
Rodrigues sent his wife another message at 1:34 p.m. before he stopped responding to her messages because his cell phone was turned off.
Carlos Cera told DailyMail.com that Rodrigues was also planning to travel to another country for a training session with a group he already knew.
Although Cera did not specify the country, his sister G1 had told Rodrigues would travel to Spain.