Bank robbery: Robbers walk away with Rs3.3m

“The third guard could retaliate but he did not,” says SP Asif.

KARACHI:

A group of armed robbers looted about Rs3.3 million from a branch of the Muslim Commercial Bank (MCB) in Shah Faisal Colony on Friday.

At least three armed men entered MCB’s Shah Faisal Colony branch situated in Shah Faisal Colony No. 3 at around 10am, while two others stayed outside the building. They held the two security guards of a private company and the customers inside the branch as hostages and warned them of dire consequences if they put up any resistance. The suspects managed to walk away with Rs3.3 million after which they made a quick escape from the site.

The police rushed to the site promptly and cordoned off the bank for initial investigations. The police have obtained footages recorded at the DVR system installed at the bank and have even taken the security guards into custody for questioning. Shah Faisal Colony SP Ali Asif told The Express Tribune that the armed men were fairly young and were addressing each other in different languages. The robbers entered the bank without hiding their faces and pretended to be customers.

“Three guards were deployed inside and outside the bank,” SP Asif explained. “The third guard could retaliate but he did not.”

The officer said that when the police questioned the guard why he did not take any action, he told them that he could not as the bank manager had asked him to keep the gun without bullets.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 14^th, 2013.