KARACHI: As reported by the Dawn News on Wednesday, four armed men stormed into a private bank branch in Defence Housing Authority (DHA) Phase II on Tuesday afternoon, relieved the lone security guard of his weapon, held the staff hostage and walked off with around Rs2 million within four minutes, police said.

The robbers escaped in a 2000cc car parked outside the branch, located in DHA Phase II, police officials said, while quoting Habib Bank Limited (HBL) staff.

They said that there was hardly any visitor inside the branch when the robbers struck.

The fresh heist came as a third such successful attempt in less than a week, as almost a similar incident was witnessed on Friday last when armed men struck the Stadium Road branch of the UBL shortly before the Soneri bank branch on Rashid Minhas Road was robbed.

In the two bank heists, more than Rs3.5 million was taken away by robbers.

Police investigators do not rule out the possibility of the involvement of one gang in all the three heists.

“We have acquired the footages of CCTV installed inside the HBL branch,” said Tariq Razzaq Dharejo, SSP Clifton Town.

“It’s a little early to conclude that people involved in the Friday and Tuesday robberies were the same, but we have found similarities in the three heists,” he said, adding that investigators of the three bank robberies were coordinating with one another.

Officials of the Defence police station said that it was around 1pm when four men – three clad in shalwar-kameez and one wearing jeans and a shirt – entered the branch, pulled out weapons and relieved the only security guard on duty of his weapon.

“Two of them also beat the guard when he tried to pose resistance,” Defence SHO Sub-Inspector Yaqoob Sammu said.

While there was hardly any visitor inside the branch, the other two robbers held the staff hostage at gunpoint and started collecting cash, he said.

“The armed men only took a couple of minutes to collect the cash from the front counter and strong room before leaving the branch,” the SHO said, adding that their fifth accomplice was ready and waiting in a car when they came out of the bank.

The police said that a total of Rs1.957 million was stolen.

An FIR (544/2010) against unidentified persons was registered at the Defence Police Station on the complaint of the HBL branch manager under Sections 392 (punishment for robbery), 324 (attempt to murder) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code.

Rs2m bank robbery in Defence. Courtesy: Dawn News

The complete article can be found at Dawn News.