Oil worker Martin Galea said yesterday that both he and his wife had sought help to recover from the trauma of his abduction in Libya, adding that his wife had probably gone through a trauma that was possibly worse than his.

In new comments on his ordeal, he said he could not explain the motive for his capture but he did not feel it was a kidnap for ransom.

“I feel that it was a series of things. The fact that I spoke Arabic with a Libyan dialect, my army background and the fact that I was in Libya at the beginning of the revolution all got into the heads of my captors that I was there to spy, possibly on behalf of Islamists,” he said.

Security sources said another factor played a part to put the captors on this train of thought.

“One of the drivers Galea was with, Ayman Ben Shaban, is from Suq al-Juma, an Islamist district of Tripoli. All these things together helped to tip the scales. Wrong place and the wrong time,” the source said.

The man who reported Mr Galea’s abduction, Mahmud Erhebi, from the Arab Geophysical exploration Services Company (AGESCO), also rejected the idea that the company had been asked or had paid for a ransom.

Mr Galea himself confirmed he had seen his captors wearing green scarves from the Gaddafi era and pre-revolution flags at the compound where he was held. 

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