Swedish gunman surrenders

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33540, 22 May 1974, Page 13

Swedish gunman surrenders

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright)

GOTHENBURG, Sweden, May 21

A gunman who held live women hostage in a chemist’s shop in Gothenburg overnight against the release of three well-known criminals from Swedish gaols, gave himself up to police today without a struggle.

The gunman, described as a Swedish former convict in his early twenties, entered the shop late yesterday afternoon and took his five prisoners. Two other women escaped through a back window. He demanded the release of Jan Erick Olsson and Clark Olofsson — both serving long terms for holding foui hostages for six days in a Stockholm bank siege last summer. He also wanted freedom for Karl Pauckscn, a West German drug smuggler popularly known as “the narcotics king.” Before his surrender today, the gunman had threatened he could hold out for days

if necessary, living on vitamins from the chemist’s shop. The gunman said he met Olofsson when they were in prison together. He wanted the three prisoners brought to Gothenburg, where they would plan their escape route.

But police sources indicated there was no intention of complying with the gunman's demands'.

It was the third hold-up of its kind in Sweden recently, beginning with the bank siege. Two months ago another gunman, describing himself as deranged, stormed into the Belgian Embassy, and held a woman secretary prisoner overnight before giving himself up.