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Venezuelan hostage gang captured
Venezuelan police swooped down on an ambulance used by robbers escaping a bank siege on Tuesday, arresting all four men and freeing a group of captives to end a two-day hostage standoff.
- Agencies
- Published: 08:40 January 30, 2008
Altagracia de Orituco: Venezuelan police swooped down on an ambulance used by robbers escaping a bank siege on Tuesday, arresting all four men and freeing a group of captives to end a two-day hostage standoff.
The four men botched a raid at the bank in the laid-back central Venezuelan farming town on Monday and held dozens of employees and customers hostage when cornered by hundreds of police.
The four men, all in their twenties, carrying pistols and a hand grenade, had threatened to kill hostages if security forces stormed the bank or tried to storm the getaway vehicle.
More than 50 people were held captive before the assailants negotiated an escape plan earlier on Tuesday and sped away from the bank in a white ambulance with six of their captives.
Interior Minister Ramon Rodriguez Chacin said police managed to stop the ambulance on the highway on the outskirts of the capital city Caracas, managing to convince the robbers to hand themselves in and free the remaining hostages.
Guarico state governor, Eduardo Manutti, said the ‘nightmare' was over. “The important part of this was saving the lives of the hostages.''
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