KARACHI, Nov 30: Bank robbers struck again in the city for the 16th time in a mere 11 months and walked off with Rs5.3 million from a private bank branch located in a Nazimabad locality on Wednesday.

It was the third bank heist that took place in the month of November, as on Nov 23 armed robbers took away over Rs4 million from a Habib Metropolitan Bank branch in Gulshan-i-Iqbal and on Nov 24 Rs4.3 million was taken away from the Soldier Bazaar branch of Habib Bank Limited. Also on Nov 24, robbers killed a security guard and took away Rs15 million from a cash van in Korangi.

Police said that a man, who was wearing a helmet, entered the Summit Bank branch in Nazimabad's Gol Market, pretended that he was under the influence of alcohol and engaged the lone security guard.

In the meantime, two of his accomplices rushed into the bank, grabbed the guard's pistol and held the staff at gunpoint.

They said that the robbers collected cellphones from the bank staff and forced them to lie down on the floor. They then collected money from the cash counters and vault.

The police said that the three robbers also forced the bank staff to lead them towards the place where the digital video recorder (DVR) was kept. They escaped along with the DVR. Dawn

The SHO of the Shamim Shaheed police post told that the mode of transport used by the bandits was not clear as no eyewitness account was available.

He said that the bandits took between 12 and 15 minutes to finish their job. Dawn

Liaquatabad SP Noman Siddiqui told that the only private security guard posted at the bank branch was previously a schoolteacher and had taken up the current job over a month back.

“Before becoming a security guard, Mohammad Taqi used to teach Islamiat at a private school,” said the SP.

Quoting the statement of the security guard, SP Siddiqui said that the security firm gave a mere two-hour training to the guard before deputing him at the bank for security duty.

The guard was detained by the police for further questioning.

A case (FIR 513/2011) was registered under Sections 392 (punishment of robbery) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code at the Nazimabad police station against unidentified robbers on a complaint of bank manager Karam Husain Mallah.

Last year, according to official data, as many as 22 bank heists took place in the city. Till Nov 30, the number of bank heists this year was 16.

The increasing incidents of bank heists and poor security arrangements by the managements of commercial banks had forced the Crime Range East SSP to write to his superiors to approach the State of Bank of Pakistan so that it could direct insurance companies not to pay back claims to those banks which were violating the central bank's standard operating procedures by not linking the DVR to their head offices.