This story is from October 31, 2019

Banka police foil loot bid, nab 6 armed criminals inside bank

The Banka police on Wednesday arrested six members of an interstate gang and foiled a dacoity bid at the Basmatta branch of Bank of India under Belhar police station area of the district. Three loaded pistols and two motorbikes, including a looted one, were seized from their possession.
Banka police foil loot bid, nab 6 armed criminals inside bank
Representative image
PATNA: The Banka police on Wednesday arrested six members of an interstate gang and foiled a dacoity bid at the Basmatta branch of Bank of India under Belhar police station area of the district. Three loaded pistols and two motorbikes, including a looted one, were seized from their possession.
Acting on a tip-off, a special police team led by Belhar inspector Vinod Kumar surrounded the bank as soon as it started day’s business.
While five dacoits entered the bank, the sixth one stood guard outside to keep a close watch on the customers.
The policemen also barged into the bank and forced the criminals to surrender after an altercation. Gang kingpin Md Siddiqui, a resident of Barhat in Banka district, was also arrested. He was wanted in connection with the Rs56 lakh loot from a bank in Korwa district of Chhattisgarh in 2016.
Banka SP Arvind Gupta said Uttam Ram, a resident of Shambhuganj in the district, was the liner of the incident. However, the information leaked to the police and the dacoity bid was subsequently foiled. Other members of the gang were identified as Sanjay Das, Rupesh Kumar Das of Banka, Md Ekram of Munger and Aurangzeb from Sultanganj in Bhagalpur district.
Gupta said he shared the information related to the arrest of Siddiqui with his counterparts in Chhattisgarh. “Siddiqui had been evading arrest in the bank heist case for the last three years. A police team from Chhattisgarh will visit Banka to interrogate him,” the SP told this newspaper over phone.
During interrogation, Siddiqui revealed that he had snatched the motorbike from a man under Amarpur police station area of the district last week. The looted motorbike was used in committing the crime on Wednesday. “We are in touch with senior police officers of neighbouring districts to ascertain the gang’s involvement in other bank robberies and dacoities,” the SP added.
Notably, the state has witnessed a steep rise in the incidents of bank robbery and dacoity since January this year. At least five incidents of bank robbery were reported from different parts of the state till October 29 this year. Criminals looted Rs36 lakh from a bank in Sheohar district on Monday.
End of Article
FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA