Hostages Freed After Government Allegedly Pays €7m Ransom
August 26th, 2010
The two Spanish aid workers that were freed by Al-Qaeda’s North African offshoot on Tuesday are reported to have been released after payment of a ransom of millions of euros.
The Spanish government expressed delight at the release of Albert Vilalta, 35, and Roque Pascual, 50, who were seized in Mauritania on November 29th, but Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero made no mention of any payment despite reports that up to seven million euros had changed hands.
Zapatero said only that the government had “stepped up the activities of its political, diplomatic and intelligence services to secure their release home in Spain.”
Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) said it had agreed to free the hostages after some of its demands were met. These demands included a ransom of several million euros, and the release of the mastermind behind the kidnapping who was jailed in Mauritania and freed in Mali just hours before the hostages’ release.
It believed that the kidnappers had demanded 3.8 million euros and Madrid paid the money in January, but only 1.5 million euros eventually reached the kidnappers, with the rest siphoned off by intermediaries. The Spanish government then stumped up further payments of three million euros in April and May, 2.3 million of which went to the kidnappers to meet their full demand for a total of 3.8 million euros while intermediaries took a 770,000-euro slice.
Another hostage was freed in March following the initial payment, with Vilalta and Pascual only gaining their release after the second sum reached the kidnappers. The Spanish government strongly denied that a ransom had been paid following the release of Gamez in May but has been silent on the reports of ransom payments since then.
On his return Vilalta said they were held under “very hard conditions” in the Sahara desert and thanked the Madrid government for working to obtain their release, “we know that the Spanish government has made a major diplomatic effort with all governments in the region. We are very proud of our government.”
Their release followed the August 16 transfer from Mauritania to Mali of the kidnap mastermind, Malian national Omar Sid’Ahmed Ould Hamma, who had been jailed for 12 years by a Mauritanian court.
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