Karachi: Another bank heist within a week

KARACHI: Just after one-day hiatus, armed robbers once again struck at a private bank branch in the city and looted more than a million rupees on Friday.

The fourth bank heist over the last one month indicated a rise in bank robberies in recent weeks in the city that has witnessed nine robberies since the beginning of the year.

“Four armed men entered the F.B Area branch of BankIslami one by one shortly before its closing,” said an official at the Gulberg police station. He said the four men had arrived on two motorbikes.

Two of them snatched a pistol from the only private security guard at the bank before pulling out their pistols and moving to the cash counter, he added.

“All of them were armed with pistols. They held the staff and visitors hostage at gunpoint,” said Gulberg SHO Inspector Fasihuddin.

“It’s just a few minutes before 12 noon and the branch was about to close its banking hours when the armed men entered the branch. They took less than five minutes to collect Rs1.36 million and sped away.”

During their short stay inside the branch, the young bandits also smashed the closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras but could not succeed to damage them enough, the SHO said.

“The recording, which is placed somewhere else in the branch, remained unharmed. So we have acquired the footage of the entire episode, which will be forwarded to the relevant unit for investigations,” he added.

Bank robberies have increased in recent weeks in the city. In less than a month, the city witnessed four bank robberies in its different districts and executed by apparently separate gangs.

Only on Wednesday, four bandits stayed on the rooftop of a branch in the SITE area until midnight when they climbed down, held the guards hostage at gunpoint and walked off with local and foreign currency totalling over Rs9 million.

Earlier, armed bandits had struck private bank branches in the areas of Malir and Gulshan-i-Iqbal and took away Rs4.5 million and Rs3.2 million, respectively, without facing any resistance.

While no progress has been claimed in the investigation of any recent robberies, the investigators in the latest attempt found a few clues to determine the identities of the bandits.

“The faces of the bandits can be seen in the footage acquired by the investigators who can use it for the preparation of their sketches,” said another official associated with the bank robbery investigation.

“An FIR (241/2011) has been registered against unknown persons on a complaint of the branch manager under Sections 395 (punishment for robbery) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code.”

Twenty-two bank robberies were reported last year while the police aut-horities claimed to have solved 16 such cases by arresting more than a dozen suspects.

They said multiple groups, including a few banned militant outfits, were found striking bank branches apparently to generate funds for their activities.

The original article can be found at Dawn News.

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