US MAJOR LEAGUE baseball star Wilson Ramos has been found safe and well after he was kidnapped in his home country of Venezuela.
The BBC reports that the 24-year-old catcher for the Washington Nationals was located by security forces in the Montalban mountains close to where he had been seized on Wednesday.
The families of wealthy athletes are commonly targeted in similar ways, but this is the first time that a prominent baseball player in the Major League has been abducted.
A ‘rescue operation by air’ had been sanctioned by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, with three men arrested.
These included a Colombian previously linked to paramilitary and kidnapping groups.
Ramos’ mother exclaimed “Thanks to God!” live on television, while justice minister Tareck El Assami said that the player was “safe and sound.”
