Galea’s ‘rescuer’ claims Warshefana men did not kidnap oil worker

A Libyan militia 'general' who secured the release of former Armed Forces of Malta captain Martin Galea – Ayman al Madani – has insisted with MaltaToday that the Maltese national was not abducted, but taken in by a Warshafana militia when fighting broke out on the road he was travelling on.

The Warshefana tribe, named after an area only a few kilometres away from Tripoli, tend to be associated with Gaddafi rule after numerous tribesmen held high positions under him.

In comments with MaltaToday by telephone, Al Madani said that he was asked by a Libyan contact in Malta – Khaled Ebrahim Ben Nasan – to enquire about the disappearance of Galea.

Khaled Ebrahim, who spoke to MaltaToday in a second interview, said that Malta’s envoy to Libya Mannie Galea asked him to intervene in the rescue of Galea on midnight of Saturday, 26 July – the day after news was broke that Galea, an Agesco employee, had disappeared.

“When I was told that he had been taken in the As Sawani area, being in the Warshefana, I immediately contacted Ayman Al Madani,” Ebrahim told MaltaToday. The Warshefana is a dangerous area to say the least. In the past, hundreds were being robbed at checkpoints.”

MaltaToday understands that Al Madani is a senior military official from the Zintani militia, one of whose most prominent brigades is the Martyr Muhammad al-Madani Brigade, with about 4,000 fighters.

“I called Ayman at 4:15am on Saturday, and 30 minutes later I was in a position to tell ambassador Mannie Galea that the Maltese oil worker had been found,” Ebrahim said.

On Sunday morning, Ayman al Madani informed Ebrahim that Al Madani’s uncle would deliver Martin Galea to him.

In comments he gave to MaltaToday, Al Madani insisted that Galea had “not been abducted”.

“The first thing we asked the captors was why they had taken Galea. But they insisted that Galea and his Libyan chauffeur had been caught in the crossfire on the road between As Sawani and Tripoli,” Al Madani said. “So they took him in for their own safety and drove out of the area.”

The government says that so far has been unable to confirm how Galea came to spend 11 days in the hands of these captors. On Wednesday, principal permanent secretary Mario Cutajar said the government was still piecing together the circumstances of Galea’s ordeal. “We were still evaluating the situation, and the word ‘abduction’ was used by the media,” OPM spokesperson Kurt Farrugia said. “We always made it clear that the government never had direct contact with whoever took him,” he said.

Ebrahim says that on the day of his rescue, Al Madani suggested they drive Galea straight to Tunis, in Tunisia, because his men feared driving into Tripoli. “Ambassador Mannie Galea told me to ensure that Galea be taken to the embassy or consulate of Malta in Tripoli, which Al Madani did,” Ebrahim told MaltaToday.

Going by the claims of Khaled Ebrahim and Ayman al Madani, the rescue of Galea took place between Saturday and Sunday, on the eve of Galea’s return to Malta.

Khaled Ebrahim Ben Nasan is a businessman who regularly travels between Malta and Libya, but he presented himself to MaltaToday as a member of the ‘Sub-Committee for the fight against corruption and smuggling’.

On his part, Galea – in the comments he gave to the press upon arriving in Malta – thanked Malta consul to Tripoli, Marisa Farrugia, for “saving [his] life”.

According to what has been factually established so far, Galea was travelling with another foreigner when their car was stopped at a roadblock. Khaled Ebrahim believes that the reason it took close to 12 days to finally track Galea down, was because his captors spoke neither English nor Maltese. He also denied that a ransom had been paid for Galea’s release.