KARACHI: Around half a dozen armed robbers stormed a branch of a private bank in Gulshan-i-Iqbal on Tuesday and walked off with more than a million rupees, officials said.

They added that the armed men pulled up outside the Bank Alfalah branch on main Rashid Minhas Road and two of them entered the facility. The two robbers first relieved a security guard deputed inside the bank of his weapon.

“Then three of them moved into the branch, held the staff and a few customers hostage at gunpoint,” said Israr Afridi, the SHO of the Sharea Faisal police station.

“One of them stayed at the entrance to keep an eye on the movement outside the branch and pulled down the shutter of the bank. The others collected the cash from the counter and while returning took away guns of two security guards.”

The robbers, all clad in shalwar kameez, hardly took five minutes to loot around Rs1.2 million, he added.

“The bandits had a hi-roof van as mode of transport. One of the security guards has been taken into custody for questioning while the statements of the bank staff are also being recorded,” he added.

The number of bank heists in the metropolis has significantly dropped in the past two years mainly due to proactive policing and ongoing Rangers-led operation, but problem of robberies is far from solved.

In 2014 some 24 banks were looted by armed bandits while 28 banks met the same fate in 2013, 23 in 2012, 19 in 2011, 20 in 2010 and less than 20 in 2009.

The police blamed the managements of the banks and private security companies for not meeting required standards of the security arrangements which lad to such crimes.

Sindh police chief A.D. Khowaja took notice of the incident and sought a detailed inquiry report from DIG East.

Published in Dawn, April 19th, 2017