Italy paid ransom for release of Pelizzari, Guardian says

(ANSA) - Rome, October 9 - Italy paid a ransom of 525,000 dollars for the release of Bruno Pelizzari, who was kidnapped by Somalian pirates in 2010 together with South African Debbie Calitz and freed in 2012, said The Guardian on Thursday, citing a leaked spy agency document.
    The Guardian said the document was written by a South African intelligence officer and marked "secret", and said the Italian intelligence agency AISE paid the ransom.
    The document said AISE, Somalian secret service agency SNSA, and the hostages "agreed to inform the media and public that the release of the hostages was the result of a successful rescue operation by the Somali security forces", The Guardian said.
    The document is part of a series of correspondences between international secret service agencies obtained by Arab news media Al Jazeera, which agreed to share them with the British daily.