Colombia hostage siege man seized

Mr Morales (r) had threatened hostages in a pension office

Colombian police have arrested a man who had taken several people hostage in an office in the capital, Bogota.

Police told the BBC they had disarmed the man and that the incident was over.

The man, identified as former army employee Edgar Paz Morales, had been threatening to set off a grenade while demanding pension payments.

Speaking to a radio station during the stand-off, the man said he wanted top officials and the media to be brought to the scene.

Local CityTV showed images of the man pacing up and down with the grenade in front of hostages and journalists allowed in to interview him.

"I am basically asking for my pension," the man told a reporter for CityTV at the office, a branch of a pension fund in the centre of Bogota.

Colombian police move in on the man who held people hostage

He said the government had favoured paramilitaries involved in Colombia's long-running conflict who had been demobilised, but that it had delayed military pensions.

Police said undercover officers were able to overpower Mr Morales by pretending they were members of the press.

Officials said they had surprised Mr Morales with a paralysing device.