Bandits walk away with Rs20m in bank heist

Nine bandits rob Rs20 million from a Habib Bank Limited branch, overpowering security guards.

SUKKUR:

Almost nine bandits robbed Rs20 million from a Habib Bank Limited branch in Shahi Bazaar in Ranipur on Thursday.

The bandits reportedly overpowered the bank’s security guards and entered the bank around 11am, where they forced the guards, the staff and the clients into a room. The branch manager, Abdul Wahab Ghanghro, told the police that around nine men came into the bank with a suitcase, and said that they wanted to deposit a large amount of money. The men then opened the bag and took out TT pistols and then overpowered the guards.

Ghanghro added that the bandits took all the cash from the counters and then forced the cashier to open the locker room. The culprits filled the suitcase they had brought with the cash, and then fled. Ranipur SHO Khalid Hussain Memon and other policemen reached the bank later.

Memon said that the bank is situated in one of the busiest areas of the city, and appeared optimistic that the bandits would not be able to stay in hiding for long. Quoting witnesses, Memon added that the culprits had also damaged the CCTV camera’s installed in the bank before they left. When contacted, HBL’s administration manager Zulfiqar Siddiqui said that he was on leave and did not know about the incident. The regional chief of the bank was unavailable for comment.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 7^th, 2012.