Hostage-taker in Alicante taken into police custody

SPAIN: A 12-hour hostage siege at a Spanish bank ended spectacularly late on Monday night when the hostage-taker was arrested…

SPAIN: A 12-hour hostage siege at a Spanish bank ended spectacularly late on Monday night when the hostage-taker was arrested after being rammed by a police car as he attempted to escape on a speeding motorcycle.

The man, who had said he was armed with a pistol and a grenade, was allowed to leave the bank, in Alicante, where he had been holding two hostages.

He got onto a motorcycle he had asked for and sped off, but a police car intercepted him. The hostages were reported to be unharmed. The 25-year-old man had initially taken eight hostages but released six during the day. Police engaged in lengthy negotiations with the man, who was still holding the bank manager and a client. At one point, the hostage-taker's father was escorted into the bank to talk to him.

The man initially demanded food, cocaine and tobacco. A motorbike was later brought for him by police and he briefly left the bank with a hostage to make sure it worked, before returning inside, witnesses said.

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Spanish channel Telecinco broadcast a conversation with a man it said was the hostage-taker.

"I am really angry with the police because I want to release these people. We have been here a long time and I want to free these innocent people, but the police will not give me what I am asking for," the agitated man said by phone.