Three killed, 2 injured in bank robbery

Manager says delay in police response allowed suspects time to escape.

LAYYAH:

Three people were killed and two injured in a bank robbery in Layyah on Monday.

The deceased were identified as security guard Ghulam Rasool and two citizens Abdullah Nasir and Allah Ditta Arain.

The injured –Habib Bank Limited Layyah branch manager Amanullah Niazi and Ghulam Murtaza, a citizen – were taken to Layyah district headquarters (DHQ) hospital. Medical superintendent Sadiq Suhrani said they were now out of danger but will remain under observation for a couple of days.

Talking to The Express Tribune at the hospital, manager Amanullah Niazi complained of the delay in police’s response. He said the police arrived at the scene two hours after the incident. He said he had informed City police about the incident as soon as the robbers left the bank at around 11:15am.

Layyah DPO Shaukat Abbas said the delay might have been caused by a shortage of officials at the police stations. He said 400 policemen from Layyah had been sent to Dera Ghazi Khan to perform security duties for the by-polls in PP-243 and PP-245. He said the City police station house officer had been away to attend a court hearing.

The DPO said all exits from the city were sealed and policemen on check posts alerted about the incident immediately after it was reported.

Murtaza, the other injured person, said the four suspects had arrived at the bank in Adda peer Jaggi area, a village on Layyah-Muzaffargarh border, on two motorcycles. He said they had covered their faces.

He said the suspects had opened indiscriminate fire, injuring five men, on the security guard’s attempt to stop them from approaching the cashier’s counter.

The closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras installed at the bank were not working at the time because of a power outage.

Relatives of the deceased men staged a protest demonstration over the incident.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 8^th, 2012.