Martin Galea. Photo: Darrin Zammit Lupi

Retired army captain Martin Galea was abducted in a Tripoli district controlled by an Islamist group and kept in a cell most of the time, Libyan sources involved in his release have told Times of Malta.

There were a couple of instances when it looked as though the kidnappers were about to release him before he was finally freed on Monday afternoon. However, they apparently had a change of mind.

Mr Galea was abducted at the Ayn Zara Bridge in the Fornaj district of Tripoli, which, the sources said, is controlled by a group known as the Suq Al-Juma’a militia, an Islamist faction allied to the larger Misuratan Militia. It has not been ascertained whether this was the group that took him.

The Maltese Security Service interviewed Mr Galea for several hours yesterday but it is not known whether he has identified his captors.

Read the full story in Times of Malta or the e-paper.