KARACHI, March 29: A gang of bandits took away Rs10 million from a bank branch in Azizabad on Saturday in what could be one of the biggest bank heists during the current year, police said.

This was the third big robbery during this month. Robbers had walked off with Rs8 million meant for a bank in Shershah on March 6 and a day earlier a gang of 10 bandits got away with Rs4.5 million from a bank in Defence.

Azizabad police said a gang of six bandits, armed with pistols, looted Rs9,623,000 from the Meezan Bank at Hussainabad.

The police registered a case on the complaint of bank manager Asif Sami.

SP of Gulberg Town Saqib Memon told Dawn that the incident took place due to the negligence of the private security guard posted at the bank.

He said the guard let one of the dacoits in without conducting his search with the metal detector as per the routine practice. He said the other dacoits entered the bank when their accomplice inside the bank had swiftly overpowered the guard.

He said one of the bank officials also set off the security alarm, but the security agency did not respond to it.

The bank manager told the police that the dacoits looted Rs8,152,558 and $12,000 from the vault and Rs689,000 from the ATM machine.

The dacoits also took away the repeater gun of the security guard and the recording of the close-circuit TV.

The police said that the culprits had come in a Cultus bearing a fake registration number. They said the bandits entered the bank at around 9.15am and remained there for 10 to 15 minutes.

While the police said they had no idea who could be behind the series of daredevil robberies, the intelligence sources did not rule out the possibility of the involvement of militants belonging to proscribed organizations.

An Al Qaeda-linked militant, Qasim Toori, who was arrested in February, has been charged with having been involved in a Saudabad bank robbery that left three men, including a police constable, dead.

According to the data made available to Dawn by police, at least 21 robberies took place in different parts of Karachi during 2007.

Couple die in accident

A young couple were killed and their minor son injured when their motorcycle was knocked down by a hit-and-run dumper on Abul Hasan Isphahani Road.

Witnesses said the couple were crushed by a fast-moving dumper that suddenly approached the main road from a side lane at around 7.45am. They said the minor was saved in the nick of time by his mother, who threw him away from her lap seconds before the dumper hit the bike.

The bodies of Syed Rehan Asghar Naqvi, 35, and Syeda Intikhab Bano, 28, and their injured son were transported to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital. Sources said the face of the man was badly mutilated, and the ribcage of his wife was smashed.

Mohammed Askari, the elder brother of the victim woman, told Dawn that the couple were living in a flat in Jauhar Square, Gulistan-i-Jauhar, with their only son. He said his sister was a private school teacher and his brother-in-law a professional photographer.

Mr Askari said his injured nephew was a student of the same school where his sister taught. “They were going to the school as a matter of course and the incident took place hardly 100 metres from the school,” he added.

The victim’s brother said that the dumper driver sped away and the number of his vehicle could not be noted as the streets were usually deserted in the morning hours, especially on Saturdays.

He said that his sister’s colleagues rushed to the spot after passers-by got to know about their school by the uniform of his injured nephew, he added.

Mubina Town police said a case against the unknown driver of the unknown dumper was registered.

In another accident, a 13-year-old boy was crushed to death by the bus of his school near Sohrab Goth.

The body was shifted to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, where the victim was identified as Sameer, resident of Samanabad.

Opinion

Editorial

New terror wave
Updated 27 Mar, 2024

New terror wave

The time has come for decisive government action against militancy.
Development costs
27 Mar, 2024

Development costs

A HEFTY escalation of 30pc in the cost of ongoing federal development schemes is one of the many decisions where the...
Aitchison controversy
Updated 27 Mar, 2024

Aitchison controversy

It is hoped that higher authorities realise that politics and nepotism have no place in schools.
Ceasefire, finally
Updated 26 Mar, 2024

Ceasefire, finally

Palestinian lives matter, and a generation of orphaned Gazan children will be looking to the world community to secure justice for them.
Afghan return
26 Mar, 2024

Afghan return

FOLLOWING a controversial first repatriation phase involving ‘illegal’ Afghan refugees last November, the...
Planes and plans
26 Mar, 2024

Planes and plans

FOR the past many years, PIA has been getting little by way of good press, mostly on account of internal...