The model daughter of a British businessman who was kidnapped with her family in Brazil was held for 12 hours in a shack crawling with snakes and scorpions, a new report claims. 

Luciana Curtis, 53, who has worked with the likes of Beyoncé and appeared on the front cover of magazines including Marie Claire and Cosmopolitan, was taken hostage with her photographer husband Henrique Gendre and their 11-year-old child as they left a restaurant in Sao Paulo last week. 

The armed robbers that ambushed them held them for around 12 hours and reportedly stole their car and took money from their bank accounts before releasing them. 

The shack only contained a mattress, sink and toilet – and was also housing scorpions and snakes, according to NewsX.

The thugs transferred money from the family’s bank accounts and stole their GWM Havaal SUV – worth around $33,000 – before letting the trio go on Thursday. 

Police are still looking for the suspects and reportedly plan to charge them with kidnapping, extortion and robbery. 

The family’s terrifying ordeal began on Wednesday night as they left an eatery in the upmarket area of Alto do Lapa.

The alarm is said to have been raised on Thursday morning after the kidnapped couple’s eldest child discovered the rest of her family had not returned home and alerted a relative who called police.

Luciana, her husband and her youngest child were released by their captors as the police hunt for them began and they sought help from locals before being taken to safety.

A spokesman for Luciana confirmed the kidnap to local press, adding: ‘The family has been released and they are safe and well.’

A specialist police anti-kidnap unit has been investigating and officers have been analysing CCTV footage around the unnamed restaurant where the gang struck. 

The shack Luciana and her family were taken to has already been located by detectives and pictured in Brazilian press.