Armed robbers loot Rs 52 lakh from SBI branch in Surat after holding staff, customers hostage at gunpoint

The police are working to identify the accused using CCTV footage from cameras installed inside and outside the bank. All the city’s entry and exit points have been sealed, they said. The five mobile phones of customers taken away by the robbers were found near NH-48 at Kamrej, police said.

Daylight heist: How it unfolded

Varachha police sources said five to six youths entered the bank posing as customers around 1.11 pm and started keeping a watch on the activities of the bank officials. Police sources said there were about six customers, four bank staffers and three outsourced staffers inside the bank. As per the plan, the robbers took out pistols and threatened to kill the bank staff and customers. The robbers reportedly held them hostage, took their mobile phones and shifted them to one side of the room and robbed Rs 12 lakh from the cash counter. Later, the gang also took away Rs 40 lakh cash which was delivered to the bank by cash delivery agents in the morning.
The robbers also took away five mobile phones of customers and three mobile phones of the bank staffers and sped from the spot on their sports bikes. Soon after, the bank officials called up police control and informed them about the incident.

Police launch manhunt

Varachha police said they have started the process of registering an offence of robbery on the basis of statements of bank officials. Police along with FSL officials and dog squads reached the crime scene. Surat DCP Alok Kumar said, “The robbers entered the bank at 1.11 pm and looted Rs 52 lakh and escaped from the bank around 2.06 pm. According to the bank staff, the gang members were talking in Hindi.”

“Analysing the way the gang worked, we suspect the hand of professional robbers. The gang threw the mobile phones of the bank officials outside the bank and five mobile phones of the customers on the main road towards the national highway no. 48 at Kamrej in Surat district. We have got CCTV footage inside and outside the bank premises and shared it to the police officials deployed on the entry and exit points of Surat city. The faces of the accused are clearly visible in the CCTV footage, and we are also in contact with police officials in other states to find their identities,” Kumar said.