LAHORE, Dec 21: Robbers shot dead a security guard and injured his colleague before plundering Rs4.45 million from a bank in Green Town on Wednesday.

The suspects opened indiscriminate fire by using assault rifles which shattered glass and left holes in walls and floor of the branch and triggered panic in the vicinity.

The firing at MCB Bank’s Hamdard Chowk branch resulted in the killing of security guard Abdul Latif, 45, and injuries to his colleague Younas, 42.

Township police investigation showed that five robbers came to the bank by a car at 1:30pm and three of them wearing masks entered the building.

As a security guard tried to stop the suspects they shot at him while another guard who also resisted was shot in the leg.

Abdul Latif of DG Khan, who suffered more than one bullet to his torso, succumbed to his injuries on the spot. The suspects looted cash and managed their escape.

Injured Latif of Kasur was rushed to Jinnah Hospital.

Police record showed that the Township SHO visited the bank at around 10:30am, checked the security arrangements and recorded minutes in the daily report register at the police station.

According to his finding, the bank had two security guards, a security cabin, proper CCTV cameras and alarm system.

The SHO, during his visit to the bank, had sensitised the manager and his staff about security keeping in view previous bank robberies in Saddar division.

Quoting a witness, a police official said one of the security guards supposed to be present in the cabin was away for prayers at the time when robbers entered the bank.

He said investigators were linking the suspects with previous bank heists occurred in Green Town and Faisal Town.

Soon after the incident, senior police officers and forensic experts rushed to the spot and gathered evidence from the spot.

Police identified one of the suspects standing outside the bank as the one who committed bank robberies in Faisal Town and Green Town a few months ago.

Police shifted the body for autopsy and registered a case under Sections 392 (punishment for robbery) and 397 (robbery or dacoity, with attempt to cause death or grievous hurt) of the Pakistan Penal Code.