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Spain''s Minister of Justice, Francisco Caamaño, has made a statement assuring that Spain "as a country" did not pay the ransom money for the release of the Alakrana. "I can only maintain that Spain, as a country, wasn''t responsible," he stressed during a press appearance in Rome.

"That is something which I can, without doubt, guarantee and of which I am certain," he added regarding the possibility that the national government paid ransom money to the pirates that held the tuna fishing vessel hostage for a period of 47 days.

Meanwhile, another Basque tuna-fishing vessel, the Txori Gorri, belonging to Bermeo-based fishing company Inpesca, was fishing in Somali waters on Thursday morning when it caught sight of a pirate craft six miles from where it was sailing. No attempt at a hijack was made, inform sources from within the security forces.

The Txori Gorri is travelling with armed protection aboard, a fact which probably prevented the pirates from attempting an attack. The crew of the Txori did think they were going to be the subject of a hijack-attempt, but their fears finally proved to be a false alarm and the pirates made no manoeuvre in their direction.

The Ministry of Defence confirmed the facts, but denied that the pirates would have made any attempt to attack to pursue the fishing vessel.