A tuna fishing boat was kidnapped with Spanish crew, ‘El Playa de Baiko’ which was boarded by pirates of the coast of Somalia last Sunday. The boat has now been released after the reported payment of a 1.2 million USD ransom. The Deputy Prime Minister, Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega has confirmed that the negotiation talk has been taken place in a luxury London hotel but she refused to confirm that payment of any ransom.
The news agency Reuters has confirmed the payment of ransom but the agency quoted with local sources that the pirates were finally paid 1.2 million USD. The ransom has been confirmed by one of the negotiators in the talks who linked the pirates to the Somali war. Andrew Mwangura has claimed that indeed 1.2 million USD was paid and reports indicate that the pirates selected the Spanish tuna fishing boat as their target on the Internet.
The boat is owned by the Pequería Vasco Montañesa company, based in Bermeo in
Vizcaya and had a total crew of 26, thirteen of them Spaniards – eight from Galicia and five from the Basque Country. Now the opposition party ahs question the government’s step of paying ransom for the kidnapped boat.
