Six people who were taken hostage by armed robbers in a south Paris suburb have been released unharmed.
The two young men, armed with handguns and wearing wigs, arrived at the Credit Lyonnais branch in the suburb of Rungis on a stolen scooter at around 10am (9am Irish time) and took four employees and two customers hostage.
They allowed two other employees who were in the building at the time to leave. One of those went to the nearby police station to raise the alarm.
Police officers quickly arrived at the scene, sealed it off, and began negotiating with the hostage-takers, who released four of their captives around two hours later.
At around 1.30pm, police officers, with their guns drawn, entered the building, freed the remaining hostages and arrested the gunmen.
Police were seen leading out two people who covered their heads with jackets. A police source said the gunmen had insisted during the negotiations to be allowed to hide their identity so as not to be filmed by media waiting outside.
None of the hostages was harmed and no shots were heard during the incident.
One of the released bank employees said the atmosphere inside the bank had been relaxed, and the gunmen had let them move around freely and even make telephone calls.
The bank is situated in a shopping mall at the foot of a tower block that houses the administrative offices of Rungis market, Europe's biggest wholesale food market, near Orly international airport.
