Helicopter-borne French troops are holding six pirates after the 30-member crew of the luxury yacht “Le Ponant” hijacked a week ago, were released, officials said Friday. It appears that sacks of money were also recovered – apparently, ransom paid by the yacht’s owners, the Associated Press reports.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy thanked the French military and officials who negotiated the release and claimed he would receive hostages’ relatives later Friday. The pirates hijacked the ship a week ago, kidnapping the crew off the coast of Somalia in the Gulf of Aden. According to the chief of personnel of France’s armed forces, Gen. Jean-Louis Georgelin, the pirates released the hostages after previous negotiations with the ship’s owners.

The crew – 22 of whom were French – was brought to safety and once the hijackers were on Somali territory, a French helicopter chased a vehicle carrying six of them, firing in order to destroy its engine. While Dahir Abdulqadir, a Somali governor in the area near where the ship was held, claimed that authorities heard “reports over VHF radio that at least eight people were killed,” President Nicolas Sarkozy denied any pirates died in the raid. Georgelin said six pirates were taken in custody after they “gave themselves up without too much difficulty,” the AP reports.

The General also mentioned the fact that France did not pay a ransom, but the yacht's owners did. “Absolutely no public money was paid in this affair,” he said. It seems that an official in Somalia’s semiautonomous Puntland region declared France paying a ransom would encourage pirates to take more hostages. Meanwhile, the chief of the company that owns the yacht “Le Ponant”did not comment the issue. Officials said the hostages were in good condition.

After they were freed, they were sent towards Djibouti, on a French military vessel. They are due to arrive in France on Sunday. Jean-David Levitte, Sarkozy's chief diplomatic aide, affirmed that 3,200 people have been taken hostage at sea in the last 10 years worldwide, with 160 of them killed and 500 injured. He said that piracy has been revealed as “a growing menace to international security” and France planned to put forth anti-piracy measures at the U.N. Security Council.