Hostage Situation Reported at Bank in Western Germany, Police Deployed

08/05/2026

BERLIN (AP), May 8: Police were called to a bank in a small town in western Germany on Friday to deal with a hostage situation in which the driver of an armored van carrying cash was being held, authorities said.

Regional police said they were alerted to the situation at the Volksbank branch in Sinzig, a town of about 17,000 people in the Rhine valley near Koblenz, at about 9 a.m.

They said late Friday morning that they believe there are “several perpetrators and hostages” in the bank and the driver of the armored van was a hostage. In a social media post, they described the situation as “static.”

Police said there was no risk to people outside a cordon around the scene.