Father holds two children hostage for nine hours

• Demands return of wife who deserted him  
• STF rescues children, father arrested

By K.Buddhika Kumarasiri   
 An individual who had been arrested in the early hours of  yesterday morning for taking hostage his two children and threatening to commit suicide with them by exploding a hand grenade demanding his wife to be brought back to him was produced before Homagama Magistrate  Rajindra Jayasuriya yesterday and remanded till May 17.   
 He had been in possession of a high-powered hand grenade  with its lock open at the time of arrest. The Special Task Force (STD)  that arrived on information from OIC Hanwella Police IP Sujit Olter who  sought its help judging from the seriousness of the situation had rushed  to the room where the suspect was keeping the two children and arrested  him and saved the two children unhurt during a nine-hour operation  while the bomb disposal unit was on the alert.