Man Arrested After Women Taken Hostage in French Capital

By Staff, Agencies

A man has been arrested after two women were taken hostage at knifepoint in the French capital, Paris.

The incident, which happened in Aligre in the 12th arrondissement on Monday afternoon, saw two women taken hostage in a hardware store.

One of the women was later released but negotiations to free the second woman continued into Monday night.

French minister of interior, Gerald Darmnin tweeted on Tuesday morning that a man had been arrested.

"The hostage taker was arrested," he said.

"There are no injuries. Thanks to the agents of the @prefpolice and in particular at the French Research and Intervention Brigade [BRI]."

The Prefecture de Police sent its officers to the scene to deal with the incident.

Members of the French Research and Intervention Brigade unit were also in attendance at the scene. A terrorist motive for the incident has been ruled out by officers.

Europe 1 reported that the alleged hostage-taker is believed to be a 56-year-old Tunisian man with mental health issues.

He is understood to have told negotiators that he wanted to speak to the French Minister of Justice, Eric Dupond-Moretti.

He also met, at his request, with Sylvie Noachovitch, the lawyer of former gardener Omar Raddad, convicted in 1994 of the murder of a rich widow, Ghislaine Marchal, in Mougins.

"He admires her a lot and thinks she is a very good lawyer," a source close to the investigation told AFP.