German drug suspect stabs police

Armed police stormed a house in western Germany yesterday and arrested a suspected drug dealer who had stabbed a policeman in the neck with a pair of scissors and shot another.

The action brought to an end a seven-hour siege and freed the second policeman who had been unable to escape.

A police spokesman said his condition was "satisfactory", adding the other policeman's neck injury was not serious. The two policemen had searched the house of the 32-year-old German in the town of Neuss yesterday morning and discovered a quantity of drugs.

"The man then suddenly picked up a knife and stabbed one officer in the neck. He was able to leave the house. The other was shot and remains there," the spokesman had said.