The Georgian police on Friday detained an attacker who took several people hostage in a bank office in central Tbilisi, Vazha Siradze, head of the Georgian Interior Ministry’s patrol police department, said.
"As a result of operational measures of law enforcement officers, the hijacker was detained, all the hostages were released. Nobody was injured", Siradze told reporters, noting that the police will reveal additional details later.
The remarks came after Rustavi 2 TV reported that an armed man had broken into a branch of a bank in Georgia’s capital Tbilisi and taken several people hostage.
According to the TV channel, the unidentified person initially held five to six people hostage, but later released most of them, and now only one hostage remains inside the building.
The news outlet added that the incident had taken place at a bank branch in the centre of the city earlier in the day.
The attacker demanded $500,000, a helicopter or a car, and security guarantees. The standoff finally wrapped up after the man released all the hostages before leaving the bank with the aforementioned sum.
