Confronted by police chief, hostage taker surrenders

The man, Phan Thanh Binh, 28, released the hostages in safe condition at 10:45 am Tuesday.

Binh, who has no previous criminal convictions, left home in Uong Bi City, the northern Quang Ninh Province for Hanoi about ten days ago, police said.

At 6 am, Binh, armed with a knife, broke into a flat on the fourth floor in a collective quarter in Thanh Xuan District when he was detected by the house owner, Do Thi Anh Hong, 48.

Binh then slashed Hong in her arms and hands, but she managed to rush out and shouted for help.

Binh then threatened three other people in the house, including Do Thi Huong, Hong’s sister, and two young girls, Pham Moc Lam, 11, and Pham Tung Lam, 12 – Hong’s nieces.

Police rushed to the scene, besieged the flat and asked the man to release the hostages and hand himself to the police, but he refused.

However, he later released Moc Lam while continuing to keep the two others hostage.

Binh later found out some news sites had published updated articles on his ongoing acts and phoned the newspaper headquarters telling them to remove such information.

He also demanded that his wife and children be taken to the scene.

At 9 am Binh still refused to give way to the police.

Police then agreed to the man’s demand and arranged staffs to go to Uong Bi to take his relatives to Hanoi.

At nearly 10 am, a task force was sent to the scene to prepare to rescue the hostages and arrest the man.

At 10:40 Major General Nguyen Duc Chung, director of all the police forces in Hanoi, arrived at the scene in plain clothes and walked into the apartment alone to meet Binh face to face.

After promising to let Binh see his relatives, the senior police official managed to persuade him to surrender.

The man was later taken to the local police’s office for questioning.

Binh admitted to police that he took his wife to Hanoi for childbirth in July and stayed at one apartment of one of his relatives at the above-mentioned collective residence quarters.

Therefore, he had a chance to learn about daily activities of Hong’s family.

Police are questioning him over the purpose of breaking into Hong’s flat.