RAWALPINDI:
Four armed men took away Rs2.7 million on Wednesday from a Habib Bank Limited (HBL) branch in Dheri Hassanabad.
The robbers also manhandled Branch Operations Manager Shafqat and a security guard after they put up resistance, said the Civil Lines police.
Civil Lines Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Malik Tariq said a case had been registered against the unidentified robbers and three police teams — headed by the SHOs of Civil Lines, Airport and Morgah polices — have been formed to trace them.
He said the armed quartet entered the bank at 9:10am disguised as customers and held the staff hostage at gunpoint.
After the robbers collected Rs2.7 million and tried to run away, the manager and the security guard tried to stop them. The robbers hit both the manager and the guard with pistol butts and took away the guard’s gun, Tariq said. Both received medical treatment at a nearby hospital and are in stable condition, the DSP added.
DSP Tariq said that initial investigations revealed that the four robbers arrived on two Honda 125 motorcycles and fled towards Tench Bhatta after committing the robbery.
The robbery sent shockwaves across Dheri Bazaar and fear-stricken shopkeepers closed down their businesses early.
In early April, four unidentified robbed took Rs2 million from the nearby HBL Kamalabad branch on Dhamial Road, just two kilometres from Dheri Hassanabad branch.
However, the loot from the earlier case was recovered within minutes after one of the robbers was arrested by the police in a congested area while he was in a getaway car with the money by his side.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 17th, 2012.
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