A robbery took place at the state-owned Sonali Bank in Uthali Bazar of Chuadanga's Jibannagar upazila at around 1:15 pm on Sunday. The robbers took everyone hostage at gunpoint and looted almost Tk 9 lakh in cash.
Upon receiving the news, BGB members of Uthali Special Camp and Jibannagar Police Station men rushed to the spot and recovered the pistol left by the robbers.
Deputy Commissioner of Chuadanga Nazrul Islam Sarkar, Superintendent of Police Md. Jihadul Islam, UZ Chairman Haji Hafizur Rahman, UNO SM Munim Lincoln, NSI Deputy Director GM Jamil Siddique, Sonali Bank Principal Officer Manager Khandaker Abul Kalam Azad and other senior officials of DGFI, DSP and CID visited the spot after receiving the news.
Abu Bakkar Siddique, Manager of Uthali branch of Sonali Bank, said that three persons wearing helmets and PPEs entered the bank at around 1 pm. They then showing their pistols closed the door of the bank. They took everyone's mobile phones and detained everyone in a room. Later, they looted Tk 8.75 lakh from the counter and bank's vault.
When a hostage started shouting, people of the market chased the members of the gang. At that time, when people started hitting them with stones, the robbers quickly fled on motorcycle threatening to shoot them. All in all, the robbers looted the money within 5 minutes and fled, he added.
An eyewitness named Montu said, “A member of the gang was hit in the head with stones while fleeing. At that time, another member of the gang threatened to fire a pistol, so we dispersed and they were able to flee away”.
SP Md. Jahidul Islam said the bank lacked security arrangements including CCTV cameras. Police are working in the field to recover the looted money as well as to arrest the robbers.
DC Nazrul Islam Sarkar said, the robbery took place within a very short span of time. Several law enforcement agencies are working in the field to recover the looted money.
