A university student in Beijing took a woman hostage at knifepoint in a bank and snatched nearly 100,000 yuan (US$14,700) after he had failed to graduate.

A university student in Beijing took a woman hostage at knifepoint in a bank and snatched nearly 100,000 yuan (US$14,700) after he had failed to graduate. [Xinhua]

He hid the money in a cluster of trees near his university but police caught him five hours later, Shanghai Evening Post reported yesterday.

Li Li enrolled at the University of Science and Technology Beijing in 2003 but regularly failed his examinations.

Li said he was upset at spending his parents' money and was broke before he committed the crime, which he had planned for a month.

On Sunday at noon, he ran into a Bank of China branch at USTB, took out a knife and grabbed a woman customer.

He demanded money and attacked a man who tried to help the woman, the report said.

The bank called the police but handed over the money, worried he would hurt the woman.

Li fled, leaving the woman with small cuts to her neck and wrist.

Police and university security guards arrived quickly and identified Li from security videos.

(Shanghai Daily July 14, 2009)