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Boy safe after Malmö hostage drama

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Boy safe after Malmö hostage drama

A five-year-old boy who was caught up in a hostage situation in Malmö in southern Sweden on Thursday morning is safe after a man who barricaded himself in an apartment emerged voluntarily.

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The flat belonged to the man's ex-partner. Early Thursday morning, the man showed up, pushed his way inside, and forced the woman from the apartment.

A call about the hostage situation at the apartment, located on Agnesfridsvägen in Malmö's Jägersro district, came to police around 5.30am.

Shortly after 10am, however, the man come out voluntarily, accompanied by the boy.

"After a long negotiation through the mail slot, we were able to get him in a better mood," police spokesperson Anders Lindell told the Sydsvenskan newspaper.

No one was injured in the incident, but the man was nevertheless arrested on suspicion of unlawful deprivation of liberty as well as breaking and entering.

The man had barricaded himself inside the apartment with the boy, who was the child of the man and his ex-partner.

A large number of police officers were dispatched in response to the situation, including a heavily armed SWAT team.

There was never any indication that the man is armed, however, and the team of police negotiators on site were ultimately able to get the man to give himself up.

After the man left the flat, the boy was taken by police and reunited with his mother, who was waiting in a nearby police vehicle.

Speaking with Aftonbladet, a relative of the woman said the man and the woman had never lived together and that the man had caused disagreements in the past.

TT/The Local/dl

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