Frustrated customer holds bank staff hostage in Beirut bank over refusal to withdraw his $210,000

A hostage situation where a frustrated bank customer requested access to his frozen savings in a Beirut bank resolved with a surrender and no casualties, after much negotiations with the authorities.

Bassam al-Sheikh Hussein, 42, allegedly stormed the Beirut Federal Bank carrying a shotgun and a can of gasoline, threatening to set himself ablaze and burn down the bank if he wasn't permitted to withdraw his savings. Hussein's attorney claimed that following lengthy discussions, Hussein consented to take $35,000 from his money and surrender to the authorities.

 Before he willingly surrendered, the siege lasted seven hours, with 10 people held hostage inside the Lebanese bank on Thursday. Hussein took two clients and seven or eight employees prisoner inside while demanding access to his money.

“What led us to this situation is the state’s failure to resolve this economic crisis and the banks’ and Central Bank’s actions, where people can only retrieve some of their own money as if it’s a weekly allowance,” said Abou Zour, who is with the legal advocacy group the Depositors’ Union is representing the gunman and his family. “This has led to people taking matters into their own hands.”

The food delivery driver, Hussein claimed he had to withdraw money to cover his father's medical expenses and settle other family needs. According to his family, he had about $210,000 (€204,000) placed there.

The Thursday incident was the most recent to involve neighborhood banks and infuriated customers unable to access money held in Lebanese banks ever since the nation's economic crisis started in 2019.

After several hours of discussions, Hussein agreed to the bank's offer to receive a portion of his money, according to local media. Then he freed his captives and gave himself up. Although a lawyer involved in the negotiations claims that he didn't receive any of the money.

After Hussein’s arrest, his wife Mariam Chehadi, who was watching from the street, informed reporters that her husband "did what he had to do."

During the standoff, a crowd assembled outside the bank, with several onlookers yelling, "Down with the rule of the banks!"

The head of the Lebanese Depositors Association, Hassan Mughnieh, told Reuters that he was in contact with Hussein and had communicated his demands to the bank's management and senior Lebanese officials.

“He wants to live, he wants to pay his electricity bill, feed his kids and treat his father in the hospital,” said Mughnieh.