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| A suspect in a hostage taking situation raises his arms in the air as he is detained by members of special French RAID forces outside the post offices in Colombes outside Paris, January 16, 2015. (REUTERS/Philippe Wojazer) |
A gunman who took two people hostage in a post office in Colombes, a suburb of northwest Paris, has been arrested after giving himself up to police.
The hostages were released unharmed, according to police, in an incident which they said had no link to terrorism.
The man is known by the authorities, and had contacted the police himself, they said.
According to local Socialist MP Alexis Bachelay, the man was carrying out an "armed robbery".
The man, known to police for previous criminal offences, phoned emergency services claiming he was "heavily armed with grenades and a kalachnikov", AFP reported.
Newspapers Le Figaro and Le Monde reported that the man was equipped with a military weapon.
"He phoned number 17 [the French emergency number] saying rambling things," a source said, adding that no shots had been fired.
The man is reportedly "mentally unstable and acted after failed relationship," according to France Info.
Witnesses said he entered the post office at 12.30pm local time and some customers were able to escape.
The area around the post office has been sealed and access to Colombes via the A86 has been blocked by police.
A helicopter was seen flying overhead.
The incident took place at the Aragon post office on the avenue du Général De Gaulle in Colombes, in the Hauts-de-Seine department northwest of Paris.
Source: The Telegraph
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