The police have detained four men in connection with a failed bank robbery in the Nuwara Eliya district. The bank in question is the Kandapola branch of the Bank of Ceylon.
If the carefully organised heist had gone according to plan, the bank would have lost cash and jewellery worth Rs. 22 million.
According to the police, the gang of four had chosen the three-day weekend because of the complex nature of their planned robbery.
The suspects had noted that no permanent security guards were posted at the bank after business hours. Instead, the bank’s doors are secured with chains and padlocks, and these are inspected from time to time by the police night patrols.
The gang had operated in two groups. The first pair had entered the building at night after sawing off the padlocks. The other pair was stationed outside to re-secure the doors after the first pair had entered the bank. They had used similar padlocks to those used by the bank so the police would not notice anything suspicious during their periodic checks.
Meanwhile, the two men inside were to crack open the bank safe using power tools and welding equipment. The work was calculated to take more than 24 hours. “This was why the gang chose the long bank holiday,” a senior policeman said. “They had even brought along a stock of food and water to last them till they finished the job.”
Once the job inside was completed, the two men would call the second group outside, using a mobile phone. The second group would then open the bank door as soon as the coast was clear.
However, the gang’s elaborate plans were wrecked when the police, on a tip-off from an alert resident in the neighbourhood, arrived on the scene.
The Nuwara Eliya police said the gang had attempted a similar heist earlier this year in Valaichcheni. Two of the men had arrived from the Middle East in May this year, and one of the suspects hails from Nuwara Eliya. |
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