Team formed to investigate gold heist

Gold ornaments were replaced with bronze copies in two private banks

KARACHI:

An investigation team, led by East DSP Yousuf Jamal, has been formed to probe the robbery of citizens’ gold - worth Rs750 million - from a private bank, said officials on Sunday. The East zone investigation police are pursuing the case through the court and has lodged two cases against the suspects at Sharae Faisal and Aziz Bhatti police stations. At least 10 suspects have been arrested thus far.

The incident came to light last week when an audit was carried out at two branches of a private bank in Gulistan-eJauhar and Gulshan-e-Iqbal. The audit team of the bank’s head office found that in the Gulistan-e-Jauhar branch gold ornaments belonging to some 28 clients, that were placed in 50 sealed bags in a locker, had been replaced with bronze copies.

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The audit team informed the head office of their findings and another audit team was sent the next day. The second team inspected 150 sealed bags and found more artificial jewellery. The police said that 28 customers of the banks had deposited the gold ornaments and taken a loan of Rs550 million. The police suspect that the female branch manager of the bank’s Gulistan-e-Jauhar branch was involved in replacing the gold ornaments with fakes.

Other suspects who were arrested include the branch’s operation manager, cashier, relationship manager, counter service manager and the gold finance executive. A similar audit at the bank’s Gulshan-e-Iqbal branch, conducted on August 4, found artificial jewellery in sealed banks. The police suspect the involvement of the branch manager, a fake client and two others.