Courtesy Hollywood, bank heists make for an interesting read and an engaging watch. Unless they are foiled. Last week, a gang of robbers rented a shop in Ulhasnagar, Thane, Maharashtra, beside Muthoot Finance's office. A common wall with a company extending loans and sitting on jewelry and cash reserves is a good plan on paper. Late Saturday, the robbers drilled into the common wall hoping to rob valuables from the company.
Patrolling cops, alerted by unusual activity at an odd hour, reached the spot. While seven were arrested, one managed to escape and the hunt is on. Reportedly, the company had valuables worth Rs 10 crore stashed inside the branch.
The arrested have been identified as Jahir Ahmed, 30, Immamuddin Qasim Khan, 57, Rijaul Shaikh, 35, Ajim Shaikh, 28, Ram Singh, 32, Kalu Shaikh, 55 and Tapan Mandal, 48. All of them are temporarily staying in Ulhasnagar and originally hail from Nepal, Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand.
Heist in Ulhasnagar; not the first time
In the December of 2016 too, in a gold heist, robbers flew away with 32 kg of jewelry worth Rs 9 crore. The jewelry was stolen from a Manappuram Finance branch in Ulhasnagar. The branch did not have a night security guard and the robbers were aware of the fact. The incident took place around 2 a.m as per the statement of the police. The police sent teams to Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Rajasthan to nab the perpetrators.
Meanwhile, the netizens are amused. Foiled robbery attempts with no loss to life or property make for a laughable piece of news.
Are bank robberies for real?
If the statistics in the US are anything to go by, they are. Despite the fact that they are extremely risky for the perpetrators and almost all of the victimised banks have highly advanced security systems, surveillance cameras, availability of alarms, sensor technology etc. According to the bank crime statistics compiled by Federal Bureau of Investigation, in 2017 alone, almost 4000 banks were robbed or burglarized in the United States. That's like 11 robberies per day.
It further made available the trivia on robberies and compiled data. The most common day of the week robberies occurred was on Friday. More than a quarter of the robberies happened between 3 to 6 p.m., according to the data and were the least common between 6 a.m to 9 a.m.
