BERLIN (Reuters) - A lovesick Dutch woman who made up a story about being kidnapped sparked an eight-hour police hunt across Germany that ended with her capture by a special forces unit on a sealed-off motorway.

Worried relatives alerted Dutch police about the supposed abduction around midday on Thursday after the 35-year-old sent an SMS text message telling them two Eastern European men had taken her captive in her car, authorities said on Friday.

Reports soon came in that the woman's vehicle had entered Germany, where squad cars and police helicopters fanned out in a search which spread out over three federal states.

By evening, police in Bavaria had tracked down the black Seat to a traffic jam near Wuerzburg, and shut down the motorway. Just before 9.00 p.m. (1900 GMT), the special forces team stormed the car -- and found her alone inside.

"During questioning she said she was having a relationship crisis," a local police spokesman said, adding that the hunt had cost "tens of thousands of euros" in Bavaria alone. "People need to be aware of the costs of making up stories like this."

The woman, who has since been released, is now likely to face charges in the Netherlands for faking a crime, police said.

(Reporting by Dave Graham; Editing by Louise Ireland)