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Bomb threat robber surrenders, hostages freed
Posted July 23, 2010 08:13:00

A gunman holding 40 hostages inside a bank near Buenos Aires has surrendered to police after threatening to set off a bomb. "All the people who were inside the bank are safe and sound and the situation is under control," Buenos Aires province Justice and Security Minister Ricardo Casal told reporters outside the bank.

He said the gunman, 20-year-old Josue Rodriguez Coronel, surrendered after five hours of negotiations with police and after his wife and child arrived on the scene.

During the hostage situation, Rodriguez had threatened to set off a bomb.
"I want the judge to come here and I want a car, otherwise I'll set off the bomb," he told C5N television in a telephone call. Rodriguez and four or five other gunmen earlier raided the Banco Nacion in Pilar, 50 kilometres north of Buenos Aires.

With the bank located just 20 metres from a police station, the building was quickly surrounded by about 100 police officers and swat teams. After a brief shootout with police, in which no one was wounded, the gunmen released some hostages they were holding inside the bank, said Buenos Aires province police chief Juan Carlos Paggi.

He gave no numbers, but witnesses told local media that about 50 people streamed out of the bank and that another 40 bank staff and customers were kept inside. Several gunmen also managed to escape during the shootout, but all were believed captured by police in the vicinity of the bank, police said.

- AFP