A Libyan news source, quoted by the Libya Herald but not identified by it, claimed the sum of €400,000 was paid as ransom for Martin Galea. The Libyan paper quoted sources close to military intelligence in Tripoli as having told it that a ransom was paid, but did not say by whom or how much.

Approached by The Malta Independent online, Chief Government Communications Co-Ordinator Kurt Farrugia denied a ransom has been paid by the Government of Malta nor, as far as the government can ascertain, by the company Martin Galea worked for.

And Mario Cutajar, head of the Civil Service and head of the special unit at OPM, said: "Not a single cent has been paid."

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, who was at the airport to welcome Galea, said yesterday that no ransom was demanded by the kidnappers from the Maltese government although Mr Galea's employers, Arab Geophysical Exploration Services Company, were approached.

The Libyan paper also said that the circumstances of Galea’s abduction and release have not been disclosed. One report says that he was seized at the Ain Zara bridge, near Fornaj, by a militia group from Suq Al Juma, but this has not been confirmed. A police investigation has been set up but little is thought will come from it.

Following negotiations involving the Maltese authorities, Galea was delivered by his abductors to the Maltese consulate in Tripoli just before 6pm after a number of last minute changes of venue.  

At that point a plane left Malta for Mitiga to pick him up. When it arrived there were some slight diffficulties because Galea did not have a passport on him, but this was resolved.