Mahmoud Jibril, Libya’s first post-Gaddafi prime minister, was among a sizeable group of contacts who helped secure the release of oil worker Martin Galea, The Sunday Times of Malta can reveal.

Mr Jibril confirmed his involvement when contacted yesterday in a brief phone call in which he appeared unwilling to go into too much detail.

“Yes, I can confirm that I was involved. I received a call from the Maltese side telling me that a Maltese citizen had been abducted in a certain part of the country and asked if I could mediate and so I got involved,” he said.

He said he called some “influential people” in the Warshefana area, a zone on the outskirts of the capital, populated by former Gaddafi loyalists.

“I reminded them that Malta is a friend and that we need to remain on very good terms with the country and they promised that they would do their best to resolve the matter.”

Simultaneously, however, pressure was being exerted on the captors by the former Libyan ambassador to Rome Hafez Gaddur, at least two MPs, one from Warshefana itself, the mayor of Tripoli, Mahdi al-Harati, and militiamen from the Zintan brigade.

More in The Sunday Times of Malta.