ISLAMABAD, July 28: A commercial bank and a house were looted by armed dacoits in separate incidents and made off with millions of rupees, a car and other valuables in broad daylight on Thursday.

Over the bank robbery incident, Inspector General of Police (IGP) Bani Amin Khan suspended the station house officer of the Industrial Area and served him show cause notice.

In the first incident, a group of six robbers armed with modern and sophisticated weapons entered into the Habib Bank I-9/2 branch as two of its security guards were staying inside. Instead of retaliation, the two guards lay down their weapons and surrendered before the dacoits.

Later, the robbers made the guards, 14 officials of the bank and a client hostage at gunpoint. They collected cash from different counters. They manhandled one of the security guards before leaving the bank saying: “You should be outside guarding the door than sitting inside the bank.” Later, they escaped from the scene in a car parked outside the branch.

On information, the police reached the spot and collected evidences. The preliminary investigation suggested that the robbers were the Pashtoon. They took just five minutes to rob the bank. The police said that the dacoits had whisked away with Rs2.5million. Similarly, a gang of four robbers looted cash, gold ornaments and valuables worth Rs2.5million along with Toyota Corolla car from the house of a retired brigadier. Brig (retired) Khalid Sohail told Dawn that the robbers entered into the premises of his house at 3:30am and held his two servants hostage at gunpoint. — Staff Reporter