Surat Bank Robbery: Cables cut, alarms disabled, cash, valuables worth over Rs 40L gone | Surat News – Times of India

SURAT: In a heist with an uncanny similarity to the 2008 caper film “The Bank Job”, thieves broke into a bank vault of a bank through a side wall and stole the contents of six of the 75 lockers there.
Police are yet to find any solid clues about the theft at the Union Bank of India branch near Kim Crossroads, which was carried out in the early hours on Tuesday. They entered the locker room by making a two-foot hole in a wall.
The theives cut cables to disable surveillance cameras and damaged the bank’s alarm, which did not ring during the burglary.
It is believed the burglars were inside the bank for about three hours and broke into six of the 75 lockers. Some 35 lockers were unused. Of the six lockers broken into, three were empty while one locker, belonging to an NRI, had a Ganesha idol. From another, jewellery worth Rs 40 lakh is missing, while the owner of the third locker is out of town, and police will know its contents only when he returns.
“The theft seems to have been carried out by professionals and someone who knew the premises may have provided intelligence. Multiple police teams are working to identify the theives,” a police officer said.
Police are scouring through CCTV footage from connecting roads and highways to find clues. Police suspect around five people were involved in the crime from some unclear visuals captured by a remote camera.
From the spot, an electric cutter used to break into the lockers was found at the spot.
There is a vast open area behind the bank. There is a one-room office of the property owner which shares a common wall with the back wall of the bank.
A fibre door was broken open by the burglars to enter the office, from where they bored a hole in the wall to enter the bank. The hole is wide enough for a thin person to enter the locker room directly.
As it was night, there was no one at the back of the bank. No one heard the sound of the wall or lockers being broken either.