KARACHI, Sept 28: The Jamshed Quarter branch of a local bank was on Friday robbed of an estimated Rs4.8 million by more than half a dozen armed robbers in an operation that the police have reason to believe could have been facilitated by insiders.
According to the area police, seven armed men drove up on motorbikes and entered the Jamshed Road branch of MCB Bank at 8.40am. They took the staff hostage, after which one of the robbers pointed a gun at a staff member and instructed him to open the safe. Having gained access in this manner, the men wiped out the entire cash contents of the safe, including 2,000 pounds sterling.
“As per the statements recorded by the staff members, the whole operation took seven minutes,” said the SHO, Jamshed Quarters, Sohail Khan. “We have lodged an FIR [No. 281/07] under Section 395 of the Pakistan Penal Code, which pertains to punishment for dacoity,” he told Dawn. “We have initiated investigations with the cooperation of the bank’s staff and initial findings suggest that all the men, a couple of whom were dressed in shirt and trousers while the rest wore shalwar kameez, participated in the robbery.”
Suspicious circumstances
Sources have told Dawn that the interrogations of staff members have revealed some suspicious circumstances.
“The police found that the closed circuit television camera (CCTV) system, which records all movement within and outside the bank, was powered off at the time the heist took place,” said a source. “So there is no footage of the crime and there are resultant difficulties in ascertaining the exact number of robbers involved as well as in getting a lead on where to begin tracing them.”
Similarly, the source informed Dawn, the investigation team was shocked to find that the bank branch’s alarm system, which is supposed to be switched on 24 hours a day, was out of order when the robbery took place. “However, the bank staffers took the plea that the job may have been done by PTCL staffers who had, in response to a complaint, visited the bank the day before the crime was committed and could have damaged the alarm’s wiring while repairing the telephone cables,” said the source. He added that the police were questioning a sweeper who worked at the bank, lived near the scene of the crime and had been in the bank’s employ for the longest time.
“One of the guards who performed night duty at the branch is also untraceable,” said the source. “The bank management has failed to trace him and the police are searching desperately for the man.”
