German hostage-taker gives up after 9hrs
2012-12-22 14:19
Berlin - Police say a hostage taker at a German bank has
freed the employee he was holding and turned himself in after a nine-hour
standoff with police.
Berlin police said on Saturday officials convinced the man,
who had apparently sought to rob the bank on Friday evening, to free the
40-year-old employee and turn himself in.
Nobody was injured.
Police had deployed several hundred officers to the scene of
the Deutsche Bank branch in Berlin's Zehlendorf neighbourhood, which was
cordoned off in a wide perimeter.
The hostage taker, whose identity was not released, had
asked for money and safe passage.
Local media reported he threatened using a bomb to blow up
the bank.
Police declined to comment on those reports.
- AP
