In another disturbing Rio story as we head into next month’s Summer Olympics, New Zealand Jiu-Jitsu athlete Jason Lee claims he was kidnapped in Rio on Saturday by men dressed in police uniforms.
What did you guys get up to yesterday?
I got kidnapped. Go Olympics!#Rio2016— Jason Lee (@jasonleejitsu) July 24, 2016
Lee told New Zealand website Stuff that two armed men dressed as police on motor bikes pulled him over, and told him they were doing a routine search for drugs and weapons. They then grabbed Lee’s genital area when patting him down, and told him that he wasn’t allowed to drive in Brazil as a foreigner without a passport, something he later found out is not true:
“First he asked me stretch my arms, then patted me down. He grabbed my genital area, which was quite a surprise.”
“At this point it still looked reasonably professional.”
After a full search of his car and person, one of officers took his license and the registration of his rented car away to his bike for a few minutes.
When he returned he was brandishing a large book, and told Lee he was breaking the law.
“He says ‘you can’t drive in Brazil as a foreigner without a passport,’ which I now know isn’t the case at all. The rental car company hadn’t mentioned that to me.”
The men then forced Lee into a car, made him drive on the wrong side of the road before swapping cars, and demanded that he withdraw money out of two ATMs to pay for his release:
The police demanded that Lee either paid them 2000 Brazilian Reais (NZ$850) or they would arrest him and take him to the federal police.
Lee didn’t have that much cash, so the police told him to follow them to an ATM.
But instead they forced him to drive down the wrong lane of a highway, pulling off beside a concrete police bunker underneath an overpass.
“These guys have pulled me over, they have weapons. I’m not in any position to negotiate,” Lee said.
At this point he feared for his life.
At the bunker, Lee was forced to swap into an unmarked private car belonging to one of the officers.
When he asked why he couldn’t drive his own car to the ATM, they explain that his car doesn’t have tinted windows, but they are in full uniform and don’t want to be seen.
He was finally released after handing over the money the men demanded, and they told him to not “say anything to anyone about this, not a word”. However, he indeed reported it to authorities.
The 27-year-old Lee — a Jiu-Jitsu national champion from Wellington, New Zealand — is not participating in the Olympics, but he’s been living in Rio over the past year. He told Stuff that he’s had “several bad Brazilian experiences”, and that “things have appeared to get worse, not better.” Ladies and gentlemen, your 2016 Summer Olympics host city!
