RAWALPINDI: After the robbery at Bank Al-Falah in Rawalpindi on Wednesday, the provincial government has directed the regional police officer (RPO) to initiate legal action against the bank’s staff, security guards and the police for not taking preventive measures.

A senior police official told Dawn that provincial authorities have taken serious notice of the robbery on Chur Chowk, in which a gang of six men made off with Rs20 million and the security guard’s gun.

One security guard was on duty at the time of the robbery, who was overpowered by the suspects while the second guard was on a prayer break. No police officials were on duty at the bank at the time.

The official said the RPO has been directed to initiate legal action against the bank staff and private security guard and launch a departmental inquiry against the concerned police officials.

In the FIR he lodged with the police, the bank’s manager Syed Rizwan Ahmed Hashmi said the robbers took “not more than five minutes” to get the money and walked out of the bank after locking the bank’s main door behind them.

But police blame the bank’s administration for not following standard operating procedures for security. The CCTV cameras installed in the bank were also said to be of low quality and footage from them were of no help to the police.

Late on Thursday night, police also registered an FIR against bank officials, saying that their involvement had not yet been ruled out, a senior official said.

Two unrelated robbery incidents were also reported to the police on Thursday.

In his complaint to the police, a grocery store owner, Abdul Waheed said two unidentified men had walked into his shop at 12:30pm while him and his staff were serving customers. The two men pulled out guns and demanded the cash in the shop be handed over to them. Mr Waheed said the robbers took Rs200,000 from him and left after locking the shop from outside.

A salesman from an ice-cream company, Ali Raza, was robbed of cash by two unidentified robbers on Kuri Road, Sadiqabad.

In an unrelated incident, two unidentified individuals on motorcycles attempted to hijack a wagon transporting nurses and other hospital staff in Pirwadhai, the police said.

The wagon driver had just picked up three nurses from Khayaban-i-Sir Syed and made a stop to pick up another nurse when two men on motorcycles blocked his way and threatened him.

They pulled the driver out of the car and drove off. The car had only moved a few meters when the car’s engine stopped. Two of the nurses jumped out of the car while the third was pushed out by one of the hijackers while his accomplice tried to restart the car.

According to the police, the engine had been switched off by the tracker and the hijackers then managed to flee. The official said the owner of the wagon had not wanted to register a case.

Published in Dawn, August 26th, 2016