Armed men on Monday took away Rs5 million in a bank robbery in Gujranwala district. None of the robbers has been arrested.
A robbery took place in the Sabzi Mandi police precinct on Monday. According to the police, six men entered a Bank Al Habib branch on Sheikhupura Road.
The men held up the bank staff and took away Rs5 million, customer information, bank record and CCTV footage.
Imran Butt, a witness, said that some 20 customers including him were present in the bank at the time of the robbery. He said that six men entered the bank. Four of them, he said, soon went outside while two went to the reception. “The two started quarreling with the staff pretending to be customers complaining about some problem. After a few minutes the other four men rushed in with pistols in their hands.”
Two of them gathered the customers and locked them in the washrooms and stores, while the rest help up the staff, he told the police.
Butt said that they remained locked in the washrooms for about 30 minutes before they were freed.
Khyali ASP Nida Chattha said that the robbers also took away the security guard’s pump action gun.
Bank Manager Muhammad Arshad said that when he tried to call the police, one of the robbers hit him and took away his mobile phone. He said they also hit a few others who showed resistance. “They threatened to shoot us if anybody tried to inform the police or trick them,” he told the police.
Arshad said that the robbers conversed in Urdu and Pashtu and were wearing shalwar qamees. “As soon as they left, we unlocked the washroom and store doors where the customers had been suffocating,” he said. DSPs Shahid Hafiz and Arif Munir reached the scene along with regional police officer Ahmed Mubarak and SSP (headquarters) Javed Malik and sealed the bank.
Earlier, two weeks ago, Rs2 million was taken away from a bank in Aimanabad. No one has been arrested in the case so far.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 21st, 2011.
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