A man shouts inside the bank as he holds hostages at gunpoint in Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Aug. 11, 2022.
Highlights
- A man has taken employees and customers hostage at a bank in Beirut.
- It is being told that a person named Hussain is asking for his own money deposited in the bank.
- Hussain’s brother has told that he wants money for his father’s treatment.
Lebanon Bank: A gunman broke into a bank in the Lebanese capital Beirut on Thursday and took customers and employees present there hostage. The armed man is demanding that the money he has deposited in the bank be given to him, otherwise he will set himself on fire. An official said on condition of anonymity that the man, identified as Bassam al-Sheikh Hussein, 42, broke into Federal Bank in Beirut’s Hamra district. He has a canister filled with flammable material and has taken 6-7 employees hostage.
2 lakh dollars of a person trapped in the bank
George Al Haj, head of the Bank Employees Syndicate, told local media that he had taken 7-8 employees as well as two customers hostage. According to officials, the man fired three shots to give a warning. It is being told that about 2 lakh dollars (about Rs 1.6 crore) of him are trapped in the bank. Let us tell you that the economic condition of Lebanon has gone from bad to worse in the last few years. The country has been cash-strapped since the end of 2019 and has imposed very stringent restrictions on withdrawing foreign currency from banks.
Security personnel cordoned off the entire area
Lebanese troops, intelligence agents and police officers from the country’s internal security force have cordoned off the hostage crisis. Officials are trying to reach a solution by talking to Hussain but they have not got success so far. Hussain has released a hostage who has been taken away by ambulance. Earlier, in a video shot from mobile, it was seen that the man was seen holding a shotgun in his hand and asking for his money back.
Man asking for money ‘for father’s treatment’
Another video has surfaced in which two police officers are requesting him to free at least one hostage. However, the appeal of the officers had no effect on the man and he refused to release anyone. A bank customer who survived the incident told local media that he was demanding $2,000 from his deposited money for the treatment of his father, who was hospitalized.
‘If I get the money, my brother will surrender’
Meanwhile, his brother Atif said that he would surrender if the bank returned Hussain’s money, as he needed the money to pay his father’s medical bills and meet the family’s expenses. Atif said that his brother is not a crook, he is a decent person. Meanwhile, dozens of protesters flocked to the area and raised slogans against the Lebanese government and banks. In the last few months, demonstrations against the government over the poor economic situation have intensified.
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