Robbers loot Tk 23 lakh from bank

Posing as customer, an armed man entered a branch of Premier Bank in the capital's Badda and robbed Tk 23 lakh at gunpoint.

The man, wearing a surgical mask and carrying a backpack, went inside the private bank around 4:30pm on Monday when the staff were closing the day's account, said Ashraful Karim, assistant commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (Badda Zone).

“The man, aged between 30 and 35, went straight to the manager's room and held him hostage at gunpoint,” he told The Daily Star yesterday.

The criminal forced the manager to call all 10 other members of the staff, including two security guards, into the room and later locked them inside the vault room at gunpoint.

“He then took the money available at the cash counters, put them inside the backpack and fled,” Ashraful said.

According to law enforcers, the two security guards of the bank, housed at an under-construction building on Badda Link Road, were not carrying any firearms.

The robber, who is yet to be identified, also took away the digital video recorder of the CCTV cameras while leaving, officer-in-charge of Badda Police Station Rafiqul Islam said on Monday.

“We have collected the footage of all CCTV cameras set up in nearby areas and showed them to the bank employees but the robber could not be identified,” Ashraf said.

Police suspect the robber had recced the area and that's why he could escaped without being caught by the CCTV cameras.