‘Mini’ robbery at private bank

KARACHI: Ten men stole Rs125,000 from a private bank’s branch in Gulberg, just hours before the Gulberg police was to hold its happy press conference on the arrest of street criminals.

According to witnesses, at least ten armed suspects arrived at the bank in two vehicles. Five of them stayed outside to guard the door while the rest forced their way inside and held the staff and guards hostage.

They snatched the weapons from the police constable, Roshan Din, who was deputed to boost the bank’s security, and the two security guards and proceeded to complete the robbery within seven minutes.

Witnesses claimed that police patrol the area quite frequently but at the time of the heist, they were nowhere to be found.

On the other hand, police said that the robbers managed to steal such a small amount of money because the contingent of officers arrived very swiftly. There were at least Rs10 million in the bank and had the police delayed, the bank would have suffered a bigger loss.

Special Investigation Unit (SIU) chief SSP Raja Omer Khattab surveyed the crime site and impounded the footage recorded in the CCTV camera system installed in the bank.

Police have initiated investigation after registering an FIR on the complaint of the bank manager, Arshad, against unidentified persons.

The press conference was held a few hours later at the office of the Gulberg SP Captain (retired) Asim Khan. He briefed Gulberg town officials on the arrest of an alleged gang of Irani robbers, who were notorious for robbing people at the airport.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 10^th, 2010.