In broad daylight: Passer-by injured as robbers loot Rs275,000 in bank heist

The armed men completed their operation within five minutes.

KARACHI: In the third bank heist of the city this year, a group of robbers stole Rs275,000 from Timber Market branch of United Bank Limited (UBL) on Monday morning.

A passer-by was wounded when the suspects opened indiscriminate fire as they were fleeing the bank in Old City area. According to Napier police and witnesses, three men stormed into the UBL branch around 10:30am and snatched the weapon of the security guard. They held him and the bank staff hostage. The robbers then moved towards the cash counter and looted around Rs275,000.



After dumping the security guard’s weapon outside the bank, the robbers fled from the scene. They completed their operation within five minutes. Muhammad Haroon, 25, was wounded when the bandits opened indiscriminate fire while fleeing after committing the bank robbery.

The bank manager, Saeed Khokhar, criticised the performance of law enforcers. “Despite the deployment of several law enforcers, including Rangers and police in the area, how did the robbers manage to loot the bank?” he questioned, while talking to the media.

Reacting on the information, police officials reached the site.

“The robbers only looted cash from the cash counter and did not try to move towards the strong room as they feared action due to the presence of law enforcers,” said SHO Azam Khan.

“They might have tried to loot more cash from the bank if there were no law enforcers in the area. At least give this much credit to the law enforcers.”

The officer said, “We couldnot obtain any footage as CCTV cameras installed in the bank were not functioning.” The officer said that the bank management will also be included in the investigation, however, a case has been registered on behalf of the bank manager against unidentified persons and further investigation has been initiated.

This was the third bank heist in the month. On January 20, three armed robbers succeeded in robbing around Rs270,000 from a bank in Gole Market in Nazimabad. On January 7, two private bank security guards lost their lives in a bid to foil a robbery in Korangi’s K Area.

The robbers managed, however, to escape with Rs1.6 million from UBL’s Korangi branch.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 28^th, 2014.