Off they go, again: Eight robbers loot Rs1.5m in eighth bank heist of the year

Armed robbers carried out the offence within five minutes.

KARACHI: In the eighth bank heist of the year, a group of eight robbers looted Rs1.5 million from the Nishtar Road branch of the NIB Bank on Tuesday. In January this year, four banks were looted, while in February three were robbed. Law enforcers failed, however, to arrest any culprits behind any of the incidents.

Around 10:50am on Tuesday, a group of six robbers stormed into a branch of the NIB Bank on Nishtar Road within the limits of Garden police station as two of their accomplices stood outside the bank. Witnesses and police said that the robbers held the security guards, customers and bank staff hostage at gunpoint. They deprived the customers and staff members of their cell phones, cash and valuables.

The armed men managed to escape before the police reached the site, however, police officials, quoting the witnesses, told The Express Tribune that the armed men had arrived on four motorcycles and completed their operation within five minutes.

“After entering bank, they held everyone hostage at gunpoint and disconnected the CCTV cameras,” said SHO Imdad Ali Khawaja, while talking to The Express Tribune. The official said the robbers then moved to the cash counter and looted around Rs1.5 million, adding that they also took away the weapons of the two security guards.

Though the robbers had disconnected the CCTV cameras, the police managed to obtain the initial footage of the robbery. The police have detained both the guards for questioning and initiated further investigations. An FIR No 48/14 was also registered on behalf of the bank manager Mazhar Ashfaq against unidentified persons.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 5^th, 2014.