'Ocean's Ten' strike at Kanpur bank, flee with 1.8kg gold

KANPUR: A perfectly planned bank heist in Kanpur has left behind a tunnel to the strongroom, CCTV cameras gently twisted to look away, a gold chest cut open and 1.8 kg gold worth over Rs 1 crore gone. The bank's alarm also did not set off. Police have no leads thus far but suspect it could be a team of 10 behind the heist.
The crime was committed at the State Bank of India's Bhauti branch in Kanpur on the intervening night of Wednesday and Thursday.
An 8-foot-long and 4-foot-wide tunnel was dug up with clinical precision to the bank's strongroom where, according to the police, the thieves might have used a drill machine to cut through the concrete floor of the bank to reach the gold chest.
DCP (West) Vijay Dhul said, "There are 11 CCTV cameras installed in the bank, out of which four are installed in the strongroom."
He said: “As soon as the miscreants entered the strongroom, they changed the position of the CCTV cameras, due to which none of them were caught on the camera. We suspect that the number of miscreants would be 10.” The robbers had accomplished their task so perfectly that even the bank’s alarm didn't ring, said an official privy to the investigation. This requires a lot of expertise – perhaps an inside man too. “A failed attempt was also made to cut open the currency chest. Otherwise Rs 35 lakh more in cash would have been stolen,” he said. The DCP said, “The place where the tunnel was made had a cover of wild bushes, which made the work of the miscreants easier.” “The crooks seem to be very smart as they made a tunnel in a very accurate manner, which led them to the bank’s gold chest with precision,” the DCP said. All this was accomplished in a 4-5-hour window.
“Five teams have been constituted for a breakthrough. We are scanning the CCTV footage of the entire area. Someone in the gang had complete information about the bank. Recce must have been done for several days. Police are scanning CCTV footage in search of those who visited the bank without any reason. Several pieces of evidence have been collected from the spot and soon the accused will be arrested,” the DCP said.The gold stolen from the chest belonged to 29 customers who had mortgaged their share for procuring loans. The police suspect that some employees of the bank may have a role in the crime and are questioning them