BALASORE: In a daring broad daylight heist, a gang of six armed miscreants robbed Rs 20 lakh in cash and ornaments from UCO bank near Chouki Chowk in Bhograi on Tuesday afternoon.
The masked robbers barged into the bank at around 2 pm. While two of them stood guard at the entrance, the rest went inside and threatened the employees and customers with guns. They warned everyone to put their mobile phones inside their pockets.
One of the miscreants pointed a gun to the cashier’s head and told him to deposit the cash from the drawer in a bag. The cashier was then asked to bring all the cash and ornaments from the bank’s iron chest while other employees and customers were held hostage at gunpoint.
The robbers then decamped with the cash and ornaments on two bikes. The entire incident happened within 10 to 15 minutes.
Bhograi IIC Sujata Khamari said on being informed, police rushed to the bank. Preliminary investigation revealed that the robbers were not locals as they were talking in Hindi and Bengali.
The bank was running without a manager and no security personnel had been deployed there. The robbers have taken away the hard disk of the CCTV cameras installed in the bank.
All the routes towards Chandaneswar, Kamarda and Bhograi have been sealed. Police have intensified checking along these routes. A case has been registered and investigation is on, the IIC added.
As many as four bank robberies have taken place in Baliapal, Shrirampur, Kamarda and Jaleswar areas of the district in the last three years.