Ranger's soldiers standing alert near Nazimabad Inquiry Office after a failed bank robbery attempt in Karachi.     — ONLINE PHOTO by Hamid Hussain

KARACHI: Two robbers were gunned down by a police constable posted at a bank branch in Nazimabad as they attempted to flee along with their accomplices in panic when a properly working alarm was pressed by the branch manager on Monday.

It was the second bank heist foiled by the police this month as previously on March 6 bandits had to leave behind the Rs1.4 million cash they had collected from a branch in Nazimabad No 3 during a shoot-out with a chasing police party.

On Monday morning, four bandits wearing police uniforms arrived at the bank branch in a car and a motorcycle, said an official at the Nazimabad police station. They entered the bank after relieving the lone police constable, posted outside the branch, of his official weapon, he added.

They also snatched a repeater gun from the security guard and held the staff hostage at gunpoint, the official said.

While they were busy collecting cash, the branch manager pressed the security alarm, which caused the robbers to flee in panic. “Acting quickly, Constable Raheem Bukhsh got hold of his rifle as soon as it was dropped by the fleeing robbers and fired at them,” said SP Liaquatabad Noman Siddiqui while speaking to Dawn.

Police had also obtained CCTV footage of the act, he added.

While two of the robbers were killed, their two accomplices managed to escape in the car, said the official.

The area police shifted the bodies to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for medico-legal formalities.

The police also impounded the motorbike bearing registration number LOE-0790 and seized an AK-47 rifle, a loaded repeater gun and several bullets.

Nazimabad SHO Jahanzeb said the bodies were shifted to the Edhi morgue for want of identification.

A case was yet to be registered on a complaint of the bank manager.

Later, Additional Inspector-General Akhtar Husain Ghorchani told a press conference that Constable Raheem had been promoted to the next rank and also announced a cash reward of Rs50,000 for him.

While at least 19 bank robberies were committed in the city last year, the city has witnessed one successful bank heist this year so far. Over Rs1 million was taken away from a bank branch near Islamia College on Jan 31.