Karachi: Police on Saturday said they arrested one suspect for involvement in a mega bank robbery last month in which thieves broke into bank lockers and took ornaments, bonds and cash worth millions of rupees.
Senior superintendent of police (SSP) Farooq Awan, who is leading the Special Investigation Unit (SIU) of the police, held a press conference to announce the arrest of Khalil Bangash, who was arrested by the police from the Saddar area of Karachi.
Bangash, the SSP said, along with his six other accomplices including the guard of the private sector Meezan Bank, broke into the bank on June 23 during the weekend holidays. They brought with them a gas welding unit and easily melted away the locks of 102 steel lockers at the bank, situated at the Gulshane Iqbal area.
The robbers collected all the cash, gold ornaments, foreign currencies and important monetary papers having a cumulative worth of 72 million (Dh2.60 million) rupees, Awan said.
After the robbery, they managed to buy a jeep with a powerful engine and travelled by road to Peshawar in northern Pakistan.
Sardar Safeer Iqbal, the kingpin of the gang sold loot and distributed the cash among the gang members. Bangash got the share of six million rupees and he came down from Peshawar to get one of his accomplices freed on bail, the police officer said.
The police recovered 2.7 million rupees from Bangash custody. Rest of the money, he told police, was expended in paying off his personal loans and other matters.
The police was trying to locate the other robbers who were still at large.
Meanwhile, inspector general of Sindh police, Ghuam Haider Jamali presided over a meeting of senior police officers at this office to set up a special cell to bust gangs and criminals engaged in stealing mobile phones in the city.
The crime cell has been created under the crime investigation agency (CIA) and would monitor street crimes on different thoroughfares of the city and crack down on gangs and criminals who operate on the streets.
